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Table of Contents
C CC Co oo ov vv ve ee er rr r I II Im mm ma aa ag gg ge ee e Kauriel The Enabler
by Giordano Pranzoni
Page 3 Table of Contents
Page 5 Editorial
by David Paul
A AA Ar rr rt tt ti ii ic cc cl ll le ee es ss s
Page 7 Malevolent Manifestations
by T. H. Gulliver
Page 10 Corruptor Creature and Kauriel the Enabler
by Steven D. Russell
Page 15 A Divine Wind: Clerics of Air, Clouds, and Wind
by Jonathan McAnulty
Page 19 Eyes of Sin
by Michael Welham
Page 23 The Care and Maintenance of Your
Clockwork Tower
by T. H. Gulliver
Page 26 Whats Evocative?
by Robert N. Emerson
I II In nn nt tt te ee er rr rv vv vi ii ie ee ew ww w
Page 30 Twenty Questions with the Pathfinder
Compatible Publishers!
Reviews Reviews Reviews Reviews
Page 53 Top 10 of 2010
by Thilo Endzeitgeist Graf and Dark Mistress
The Mar of Questhaven
Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, LLC.
See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Publishing, LLC does not
guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product.
Pathways #1 2011 Steven D. Russell, Open Gaming License Copyright 2007 Wizards of the Coast. All rights reserved,
Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Roleplaying
Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and are used under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the compatibility license. Open
Design logo is a trademark of Open Design LLC. All company logos are the trademarks of their respective companies and are used
with permission
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The Rite Pathway
Ive been enjoying role playing games for more
than 30 years. In this time Ive met some amazing
players and game masters, had more late-night
gaming sessions than I can count, and slipped behind
the scenes into the mysterious realm of design and
development. Over the past ten years or so, Ive had
the fantastic opportunity to freelance as an editor,
writer and designer for many of the finest folks in the
role playing game industry.
Role players are innovative (teams of them can
dismantle in five minutes what a devious GM took five
hours to concoct), imaginative (Ive spent an
afternoon with a half-a-dozen friends listening to
them spin fantastic tales every bit as compelling as
anything that comes out of the laptops of todays
fantasy authors), dedicated to their craft (I have a
friend who, though legally blind without glasses, can
spend weeks using magnifying glasses, paints and
brushes and create in miniature form the intrepid
explorers of the current campaign) and generous (I
have been part of gaming tournaments paid for from
the wallets of gamers hoping to inspire love of the
game in others and I have participated in the
collective efforts of gamers to raise money to help
others).
Role players are also iconoclastic and often more
than a little willing to grapple with authority: even the
authority of the creators of the games they play.
All of these traits are also found in most of the best,
most dedicated personalities in the gaming industry.
It takes someone as gifted as Monte Cook to not only
operate within the system and help create something
as enduring as the third edition Players Handbook,
but also to be creative enough to go beyond that
success and operate independently.
Such creative openings are not stifling to the game,
they enhance it. When Wizards of the Coast
announced a fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons,
a significant population chose to stick with their own
variants of the revised third edition and its
opportunities through the OGL and SRD. Some of
these folks coalesced around a particular set of
products, most notably Paizos Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game. Others have maintained their
independence and freelance for whoever will accept
their material.
Heres where Pathways comes in. The staff of Rite
Publishing has developed strong relationships with
many fine folks in the industry, including,
importantly, many of our competitors. One thing we
all have in common is that weve all been (and still
are) role players. Were all innovative, imaginative,
dedicated, generous and iconoclastic. And, while were
busy competing with one another to produce the very
best content we can, every once in a while someone
comes up with an idea thats stunningly brilliant (and
we all jealously wish wed thought of it first).
Pathways sets out to explore all of this. We want to
bring you industry interviews, sneak peeks from the
writers, designers and developers themselves,
previews of material thats just around the corner
from its release date, original articles from freelancers
and more.
If theres something in Pathways that you really
like (or really dont), feel free to let us know. We have
our own ideas of what appeals to the community of
gamers, but were open to suggestions.
David Paul
Pathways Editor-In-Chief
David Paul has been an assistant editor for
Knowledge Arcana, Phoenix Lore, Monsters Evolved
and proofread countless Rite Publishing products.
He is has also been the Lead Editor on Rite
Publishings 101 Series of supplements for the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game as well as the editor on
the critically acclaimed Coliseum Morpheuon
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Malevolent Manifestations Malevolent Manifestations Malevolent Manifestations Malevolent Manifestations
By T. H. Gulliver
Illustrations by Arthur Rackham and Rick Hershey
In #30 Haunts for Houses and #30 Haunts for
Ships and Shores, I introduced two new classes of
haunts: associated haunts and minor haunts.
Associated haunts are haunts that act as triggers for
each other, with one beginning as another ends or
only if one successfully affects a target. While these
haunts could manifest alone, they are more dangerous
when they manifest together. For example, a haunt
that paralyses a creature could be associated with one
that makes a touch attack.
Minor haunts are haunts that do not present any
direct threat to PCs but become dangerous when
combined with other haunts. For example, a haunt
that dazes a PC for one round is only dangerous if
another danger is present during this round. Only
award XP for minor haunts when they are combined
with other dangers or when PCs find a way to destroy
them permanently. Game Masters can use minor
haunts on their own to build a sense of dread.
Spirit of the Endtimes Associated Haunt Spirit of the Endtimes Associated Haunt Spirit of the Endtimes Associated Haunt Spirit of the Endtimes Associated Haunt
This supple leather antique chair once belonged to
the mad old Baron of Kelune. In his bored and
reckless youth, the Baron, a dabbler in necromancy,
joined a doomsday cult, mostly as a way to meet
interesting and liberated young women. The violence
and darkness of the cult soon surpassed his
expectations and he fled back to the sheltered life of
nobility. In his declining years, the memories of the
things he saw while a member of the cult returned to
haunt him and grew stronger. As he descended into
madness, he stared out the window seeing the same
ghastly vision night after night until the fright killed
him.
The chair sits in the first floor library of the current
Baron of Kelune. It faces a large window that looks
onto the courtyard. The Baron finds the chair both an
interesting object of study and an expedient way to
deal with unwanted guests. No member of the Barons
household ever sits in the chair.
Be Be Be Beginning of the Endtimes ginning of the Endtimes ginning of the Endtimes ginning of the Endtimes CR 3 CR 3 CR 3 CR 3
XP 800
CE minor haunt (one chair)
Caster Level 3
Notice Perception DC 20 (to notice the fading of all
colors in the room), persistent
hp 13; Trigger touch; Reset 1 week
Beginning of the Endtimes
Effect Anyone sitting in this chair for longer than five
minutes sees the lights grow dim and colors fade. The
trees in the yard appear twisted and grey. A guard dog
skulks into view and growls toward the wind. Black-
winged humanoids fly through the grey sky. Only the
person sitting in the chair perceives these changes.
Those sitting in the chair find themselves unable to
move or tear their gaze from this appalling vision of
the end of the worldas the spell hold person (DC 14
Will save). This haunt is persistent and continues
until the target makes a successful saving throw, is
pulled from the chair by some other force, or makes a
save against an associated haunt. With a successful
saving throw, the target of the haunts perception of
reality returns to normal.
Destruction The haunt will not activate if the chair
faces away from the window. Wiping the chair in red
wine destroys the haunt.
Witness to the Endtimes Witness to the Endtimes Witness to the Endtimes Witness to the Endtimes CR 3 CR 3 CR 3 CR 3
XP 800
CE minor haunt (one chair)
Caster Level 3
Notice Perception DC 18 (to notice the dog beginning
to twitch)
hp 6; Trigger touch or associated; Reset 1 week
Effect The dog in the yard begins to drool great
streams of saliva as she hobbles toward the window.
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The sky grows darker and flashes with lightning as the
winged humanoids swoop down into the town and
rise back into the air with screaming or broken
victims in hand. The violence and madness of this
delusion reduces all but the soundest of minds to
madness as the spell mind fog (DC 17). With a
successful saving throw, the targets perception of the
world returns to normal. When used as an associated
haunt, this haunt activates after the target of the
beginning of the endtimes haunt fails two saving
throws.
Destruction The haunt is destroyed when one of the
mad old Baron of Kelunes descendents dies in the
chair.
Mis Mis Mis Mistress of the Endtimes tress of the Endtimes tress of the Endtimes tress of the Endtimes CR 4 CR 4 CR 4 CR 4
XP 1200
CE haunt (5-ft.-radius around one chair), persistent
Caster Level 4
Notice Perception DC 16 (to notice the smell of
ashes)
hp 18; Trigger touch or associated; Reset 1 week
Effect The slobbering guard dog begins to transform.
The long lines of saliva dripping from its maw become
slime-covered tentacles. She begins to grow in size.
Patches of dark bloody fur drip off of her as she stands
upright on her now massive back legs. Her mouth
explodes with fangs and is pulled back in a lascivious
grin. This transformation takes three rounds, during
which the target can continue to make saving throws
against the beginning of the endtimes haunt.
This dark mistresss now powerful arms smash the
glass from the window as she steps toward the chair
and reaches for the target, attacking as the spell
phantasmal killer. The target is allowed a DC 16 Will
save to disbelieve and a DC 16 Fortitude save to resist
the dark mistresss deadly claws. With a failed save,
the target dies in the chair. Even with a successful
save, the target takes 3d6 points of damage.
As the transformation takes three rounds, this haunt
is persistent. At any time during these three rounds,*
the haunt can be neutralized with positive energy.
When used as an associated haunt, this haunt
activates only if the target of the witness to the
endtimes haunt fails his or her saving throw.
Destruction The haunt is destroyed when one of the
mad old Baron of Kelunes descendents dies in the
chair.
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Corruptor Creature
The princes of darkness in the depths of hell do not saver the souls of those who have known not but evil their entire
existence. No, they seek those souls that shine the brightest; they seek those who fall from grace, those who stumble
upon the sinister path, those whose own desires betray them; they seek those who are but victims of their own moral
choices. To further this agenda, the baleful forces of the lower planes create corruptor creatures to enact Faustian
bargains with mortals to facilitate their degeneration under the weight of their own damnable desires.
Creating a Corruptor Creature
Corruptor creature is an acquired template that can
be added to any intelligent creature (referred to
hereafter as the base creature) that can understand
and speak at least one language.
A corruptor creature uses all the base creatures
statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
CR: +1
Alignment: Change the creatures alignment to
lawful evil.
Defenses/Qualities: A corruptor creature is
immune to all charms and compulsions.
Special Abilities: A corruptor creature gains the
following special abilities:
Change Shape (Su) Corruptor creatures can
assume any animal or humanoid form three times per
day as if using polymorph.
Contractual Obligation (Su) Only a corruptor
creature with at least 17 HD gains access to this
ability. Once per day a corruptor creature gains the
ability to enter a binding agreement with a non-evil
aligned mortal (cannot be an elemental, fey, outsider,
or nonliving creature), at the cost of the subjects soul.
The subject must enter into the contract willingly
as per atonement. Upon the subjects death (by any
means), its soul is transferred to a gem (prepared as
with the soul bind spell when the bargain is forged),
even if the gem and the subject are not on the same
plane at the time.
The bargain requires 1 hour to complete, and is
utterly unbreakable once forged. The only way to
escape is to recover the gem after the subjects death
and break it, freeing her soul, and allowing her to be
restored to life through the normal means.
Corruptors Boon (Su) Once per day, a
corruptor can grant a touched creature a +4 profane
bonus to one ability score for 24 hours. When the
duration ends, the creature suffers a 4 profane
penalty to the same ability score for the next 24 hours.
Another application not only negates the penalty, but
also restores the full bonus.
False Mind (Su) This ability offers the
corruptor the benefits of a mind blank spell. When an
attempt is made to detect his alignment or read his
thoughts, the corruptor can cause the magic to reveal
any alignment or thoughts the corruptor creature
chooses, even if he is not initially aware of the
attempt.
Imbue with Ability (Su) Once per day as a
standard action the corrupter creature can grant a
creature it touches one of its spells, spell-like abilities,
extraordinary abilities or even one of its supernatural
abilities in a manner similar to imbue with spell
ability (no save). It loses access to that ability during
this time; it can dismiss this benefit as a free action
regaining the use of one or more of its abilities.
Mark of Vice (Su) This ability works like a
mark of justice (Will save DC 10 + 1/2 the corruptor
creatures HD + its Cha modifier) but it is only
triggered if the subject attempts to find a redemption
to its corruption (subject to GM adjudication). The
mark is also invisible and is always placed over the
victims heart.
What Do You Covet (Su): Once per day as a
standard action a corruptor can grant a wish to a non-
evil aligned mortal (cannot be an elemental, fey,
outsider, or nonliving creature).
Spell-Like Abilities: A corruptor with an Int or Wis
score of 8 or higher has a cumulative number of spell-
like abilities set by its HD. Unless otherwise noted, an
ability is usable once per day. All of the creatures
spell-like abilities caster levels equal the creature's
HD (or the CL of the base creature's spell-like
abilities, whichever is higher).
HD Abilities
12 Detect good 3/day
34 Make whole 3/day
56 Helping hand 3/day
78 Lesser geas 3/day, minor creation 3/day
910 Atonement (temptation only) at will
1112 Major creation 3/day
1314 Geas 3/day
1516 Sympathy
1718 Soul bind
1920 Refuge 3/day
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows:
Con +4 (+2 hp per HD, +2 to Fortitude saves, and any
of the base creatures Constitution-based DCs), Cha
+4 (+2 to Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Handle Animal,
Intimidate, Perform, and Use Magic Device; attempts
to influence others, and Channel Energy DCs, +2 to
any of the base creatures Charisma-based DCs)
Skills: The base creature gains a +8 racial bonus on
Craft (all), Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks.
Organization: Solitary
Treasure: Triple standard (used to tempt mortals)
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The creature in front of you rapidly transforms into a
massive, red-skinned, cloven-hoofed devil with a pair of gigantic, flame-seared wings
and eyes, glowing with a pure, white light, granting the monstrosity a truly horrific appearance.
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
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Kauriel Kauriel Kauriel Kauriel the the the the Enabler Enabler Enabler Enabler CR CR CR CR 22 22 22 22
XP 614,400
Advanced Corrupter Pit Fiend (Infernal Duke)
LE Large outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +15; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness;
Perception +33
Aura fear (20 ft., DC 27)
Defense Defense Defense Defense
AC 40, touch 20, flat-footed 29
(+11 Dex, +20 natural, 1 size)
hp 430 (20d10+320); regeneration 5 (good weapons,
good spells)
Fort +26, Ref +25, Will +20 (+8 vs. mind-affecting)
Defensive Abilities false mind, DR 15/good and
silver; Immune charms, compulsions, divinations,
fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 31
Offense Offense Offense Offense
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Melee 2 claws +34 (2d8+15), 2 wings +32 (2d6+7),
bite +34 (4d6+15 plus poison and disease), tail slap
+32 (2d8+7 plus grab)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks constrict 2d8+22, devil shaping,
mark of vice (DC 32)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th)
At will atonement (temptation only), blasphemy
(DC 29), create undead, fireball (DC 24), greater
dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of
objects only), greater scrying (DC 29),
invisibility, magic circle against good, mass hold
monster (DC 31), persistent image (DC 27),
power word stun, scorching ray, trap the soul
(DC 30), unholy aura (DC 30), wall of fire
3/daydetect good, geas (DC 28), helping hand,
lesser geas (DC 26), major creation, make whole,
minor creation, quickened fireball (DC 25),
refuge
1/daymeteor swarm, soul bind (DC 31), summon
(level 9, any 1 CR 19 or lower devil, 100%)
sympathy (DC 30)
1/yearwish
Tactics Tactics Tactics Tactics
Before Combat: Kauriel prefers negotiation or fleeing
via his greater teleport, invisibility, change shape ability
and/or fly speed rather than engaging in combat; but, if
forced, he will summon a horned devil, and activate his
circle of protection from good.
During Combat: Kauriel prefers to demoralize his
foes, focusing on their strongest champion and slaying
him first, he will attack this opponent with his
quickened fireball, meteor swarm, and then move to
him so that next round he can make a full attack
against that opponent.
Morale: Kauriel is not a coward; he flees only
because he prefers to corrupt his enemies and their
supporters rather than simply slaying them. Killing
them simply adds their souls to the forces of heaven.
Statistics Statistics Statistics Statistics
Str 41, Dex 33, Con 43, Int 30, Wis 34, Cha 34
Base Atk +20; CMB +36 (+40 grapple); CMD 55
Feats Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative,
Improved Iron Will, Improved Vital Strike, Iron Will,
Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability
(fireball), Vital Strike
Skills Appraise +19, Bluff +35, Craft (armorsmith)
+30, Craft (weaponsmith) +30, Diplomacy +35,
Disguise +31, Fly +32, Intimidate +35, Knowledge
(arcana) +30, Knowledge(planes) +33, Knowledge
(religion) +33, Perception +35, Sense Motive +35,
Spellcraft +33, Stealth +30, Survival +24, Use Magic
Device +32
SQ change shape (polymorph), contractual obligation,
corruptors boon, devil on your shoulder, imbue with
ability, what do you covet
Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Giant,
Infernal, Undercommon; telepathy 100 ft.
Ecology Ecology Ecology Ecology
Environment any (Hell) or City of Questhaven
Organization solitary
Treasure triple
Special Special Special Special Abilities Abilities Abilities Abilities
Devil On Your Shoulder (Su) Once per day as
a standard action Kauriel can touch a living creature
and implant a mental duplicate of his thought
patterns into the creatures mind. He uses this to
tempt, corrupt, and assist those he touches. The
ability does this, in the following manner:
The devil on your shoulder can control the
subjects memory and nervous system allowing it
to create any phantasmal spell effect it wishes,
though only the subject perceives the illusion
(disbelief DC equal to DC of this spell); this is
often used to create a phantasm of Kauriel
interacting with the subject in various ways.
The devil on your shoulder can protect its subject
as if it is a mind blank spell and as a misdirection
spell if it so wishes.
The devil on your shoulder has a mental link to
the caster that allows the caster to track the
subject as if the caster were using discern
location.
The devil on your shoulder contains much of
Kauriels knowledge and intellect, including all of
his skill ranks and memories at the time of the
abilitys use, but it will not have access to any of
Kauriels feats, spell-like abilities, supernatural,
extraordinary or other special abilities. It can
choose to communicate this knowledge and
information to the subject if it believes it will
serve its goals. It also has perfect recollection of
everything the PC experiences (except when
suppressed, see below); if Kauriel ever touches
the subject again, the devil on your shoulder
imparts that information to Kauriel.
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
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A successful Will save against the ability or any of
its effects suppresses all the effects of the devil on
your shoulder for 24 hours. While under the effects of
mind blank, protection from evil or a similar spell,
the subject can ignore the compulsion, but such a
ward does not prevent establishing devil on your
shoulder, nor can it be dispelled, though a miracle or
wish can remove the spell. This ability is a mind-
affecting, compulsion effect. The DC is Charisma-
based.
Devil Shaping (Su) Three times per day,
Kauriel can spend a minute to transform nearby
lemures into other lesser devils. Kauriel can transform
one lemure for every Hit Die the pit fiend possesses. It
can then reshape these lemures into a number of Hit
Dice worth of lesser devils equal to the number of
lemures affected. For example, a typical 20 Hit Dice
pit fiend could transform 20 lemures into two bone
devils (10 HD each), or three bearded devils (6 HD
each, leaving two lemures unchanged), or any other
combination of lesser devils. Lemures to be reshaped
must be within 50 feet of Kauriel, becoming stationary
and unable to move once the shaping begins. After a
minute passes, the lemures reform into the shape of a
new lesser devil ready to follow Kauriels. Although
Kauriel can, technically, elevate a mass of 20 lemures
into a new pit fiend, he is hesitant to do so since he
would have no special control over a devil created in
this manner.
Disease (Su) Devil Chills: Biteinjury; save
Fort DC 34; onset immediate; frequency 1/day; effect
1d4 Str damage; cure 3 consecutive saves. The save
DC is Constitution-based.
Poison (Ex) Biteinjury; save Fort DC 34;
frequency 1/round for 10 rounds; effect 1d6 Con
damage; cure 3 consecutive saves. The save DC is
Constitution-based.
Description: Description: Description: Description:
What do you covet? Tell me and it shall be yours.
What harm could simply fulfilling your deepest
desires do? You have only but to ask.
-Excerpt from The Ambassador from Hell by Qwilion
of Questhaven.
I am over twice the height of the marvelous
creature known as man, and weigh about half of what
your fine folk deem a ton. My wings stretch out to
twice my height, though you will rarely see me in this
true from as I prefer to spend my time in the shape of
a red wolfhound, or that of a smiling man with
chestnut-colored skin and dark black hair. In that
guise I am known for wearing a beige merchants
outfit, I am often mistaken for a foreign merchant
contact. On the other hand, if you encounter me in my
favored wolfhound form you are likely to mistake me
for the loyal dog of a potential convert to the glorious
cause of Our Dark Lord of Fire.
I am not some mindless killing machine like the
balors of the dark abyss. I am simply here to aid you,
to provide you with what you desire, to stop
suppression and the denial of opportunity. Even those
who turn down my offer do not anger me, for there
will always be another chance to offer my assistance.
Only those who seek to silence my voice or stop my
work anger methese fear-mongers act only on their
insecurities.
I seek to recruit the greatest of the mortal heroes
to my cause, and to deny my foes their assistance in
this life and the one beyond. To this end, I have come
to Questhaven, the City of Adventure, and walk
among their society.
You have been to Dreamhaven the otherworldly
reflection of this city; you have sailed over the
Slumbering Sea there to the Coliseum Morpheuon.
There you will find the Khan of Nightmares and the
pit fiend he holds a bound pit fiend who fills his Cup
of Desires with wishes. Know this, the Khan was not
always such. At one point in the distant past, he was a
shining ally of Chidarb the Awakened. I, Kauriel the
Enabler, brought him into the fold, and our bargain is
what brought the pit fiend into the Khans service. I
fear what would have happened if the Khan had
remained but a Lord of Dreams.
Lore Lore Lore Lore
Knowledge (planes)
Common (DC 22): This horrific yet regal devil is
Kauriel the Enabler; he is a master of recruiting
righteous mortals into the service of evil. This reveals
all outsider and devil traits.
Uncommon (DC 27): Other creatures similar to
this are known as Corruptors. Read excerpt from
The Ambassador from Hell.
Rare (DC 32): The frightening Kauriel is a
creature of primal evil that can resist the savage blow
of nearly any weapon. You cannot chain his mind,
flames wash over him like water on rocks, and he
enjoys the taste of toxins. Only powerful spellcasters,
significantly powerful corrosives or extreme cold can
affect him, and even when they do he regenerates
from nearly every wound. Though he prefers normal
speech he can speak to a creature without words.
Kauriels bite inflicts a terrible disease known as devil
chills. He is known to summon a favored horned devil
as a servant and he has vast array of spell-like
abilities. He can also grant powerful boons, curses,
contracts, and even the wishes of his recruits.
Obscure (DC 42): Spells of a virtuous nature or a
weapon of silver, aligned with the ethos of good, are
the only attacks that deal permanent harm to Kauriel.
Epic (DC 52): Legends attributed to the
Awakened One say that if Kauriel could be recruited
into the service of the Church of the Great Pantheon
and perhaps any of the deities of righteousness, every
hero he has ever recruited would learn the error of
their ways, seeking redemption and penance for their
many sins.
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A Divine Wind: Clerics of Air, Clouds A Divine Wind: Clerics of Air, Clouds A Divine Wind: Clerics of Air, Clouds A Divine Wind: Clerics of Air, Clouds, ,, , and Wind and Wind and Wind and Wind
by Jonathan McAnulty
Illustrations by Arthur Rackham
Few things are as vital to life as the air we
breathe. It surrounds us, fills us, sustains us and
protects us. Air has a dangerous side as well. High
speed winds are some of the most destructive forces
on the planet. Nature oriented clerics with access to
the domain of Air understand and embrace this
dichotomy, revering the air and wind in all its aspects.
Such deities, and their servants, are generally
neutrally aligned. Clerics of good aligned deities
whose portfolio includes Air are most likely to focus
on the subdomain of Clouds, an aspect of air more
reflective of the life-giving properties of the element.
Evil-aligned deities concerned with the domain of Air
generally focus their attentions on the destructive
powers of the wind. Their priests do likewise.
Within the sphere of nature, each of the four
elements (Air, Fire, Earth and Water) has a polar
opposite, is mildly aligned (or subservient) to one of
the other four, and is strongly aligned (and dominates
over) the remaining element. Air, in this scheme, is
opposed by earth. It is extremely rare to encounter a
religion or cleric which embraces the domains of both
earth and air. Air is mildly aligned, and subservient to,
fire, giving fire strength. It is strongly aligned with,
and dominant over, water. The two subdomains of
Air, Wind and Clouds, are reflections of this
relationship between the elements. Wind is created
when warm air meets cold, and thus the Wind domain
is that aspect of Air influenced by Fire. The domain of
Clouds, on the other hand, stresses the harmony
between Air and Water, with Air dominant in the
relationship.
Air is also sometimes linked, theologically, with
the domains of Travel, Liberation and Luck. In such
religions, the aspect of Air most revered is its
unhampered movement. It is nearly impossible to
contain the wind. It blows where it will. For this
reason, clerics embracing the domain of Wind are
seldom lawful in alignment, as the nature of the
element does not lend itself to structure. However,
Air-centered religions are more inclined to goodness
as the air, generally speaking, does more good than
harm.
Sacred Tomes of the Air Sacred Tomes of the Air Sacred Tomes of the Air Sacred Tomes of the Air
GMs can use the following texts as religious
books in their campaigns. Each of the following sacred
writings is associated with the domain of Air, or one of
its associated subdomains.
A Divine Path A Divine Path A Divine Path A Divine Path
This sacred text is most often found in the form of
three scrolls. The contents of the scrolls are concerned
with the twin subjects of flight and freedom. The
author makes observations concerning creatures and
objects in flight to teach lessons concerning personal
liberty and happiness. The first scroll focuses on the
subject of birds, the second on clouds, and the third
on angelic beings. While seldom dogmatic, the scrolls
are considered authoritative (indeed the observations
within are both sublime and factual) and are
frequently utilized by theologians and naturalists
alike. Anyone using the scrolls to study any of the
three subjects addressed therein (angels, birds, or
clouds) adds +2 to any relevant Knowledge skill
checks (nature, religion, or planes).
The Breath of Life The Breath of Life The Breath of Life The Breath of Life
This holy book begins with a simple premise, life
began as a breath of the divine, and moves from there
to discuss the possibilities of a life well lived, the need
for charity and the natural obligation of the created to
serve those which created them. The book is a thin
tome, scarcely fifty pages long, but its poetical
imagery, rich allegories and well-argued philosophies
all serve to make it a very popular manuscript,
particularly with priests who are called upon to give
frequent sermons and homilies. Any character who
needs to give a speech to a good-aligned audience can
spend an hour beforehand in meditation upon this
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book and receive a +4 circumstance bonus to any
relevant skill check (Diplomacy or Perform [oratory]).
The Seven Clouds of Heaven The Seven Clouds of Heaven The Seven Clouds of Heaven The Seven Clouds of Heaven
This white leather-bound book is doctrinal in
nature, setting forth seven lessons in seven chapters.
The overarching premise is that the gods shower gifts
upon the world. Men sometimes fear the coming of
these gifts, as they fear the coming of dark clouds, but
when the clouds open, showering forth their life
giving waters, men rejoice. Each chapter begins with a
parable concerning a cloud (feared event) which
ended up bringing rain (a blessing). The chapter
then discusses the obligations such gifts entail and the
associated commandments (Charity in Thought,
Kindness, Affection, Freedom, Joy and Worship). The
last chapter is the exception and discusses a cloud
which did not cease giving rain, eventually destroying
all those beneath it. This chapter preaches
contentment. Those who use this book to study
religious matters gain a +2 circumstance bonus to
Knowledge (religion) skill checks.
New Feats New Feats New Feats New Feats
The following feats are available to divine casters
possessing the Air domain, or one of its associated
subdomains.
Cold A Cold A Cold A Cold Air Caster ir Caster ir Caster ir Caster
You can interchange cold and electrical damage at will
when casting a spell or channeling energy.
Prerequisite: Air Domain or Cloud Subdomain
Benefit: When you cast a spell or utilize a channeling
effect which causes cold damage you can instead
cause electrical damage. Likewise, when you cast a
spell or utilize a channeling effect which causes
electrical damage, you can instead cause cold damage.
Hot Air Caster Hot Air Caster Hot Air Caster Hot Air Caster
You can interchange fire and electrical damage at will
when casting a spell or channeling energy.
Prerequisite: Air Domain or Wind Subdomain
Benefit: When you cast a spell or utilize a channeling
effect which causes fire damage you can instead cause
electrical damage. Likewise when you cast a spell or
utilize a channeling effect which causes electrical
damage, you can instead cause fire damage.
Wind Grappler Wind Grappler Wind Grappler Wind Grappler
The very air aids you when you attempting a combat
maneuver.
Prerequisite: Air, Cloud or Wind Domain; Channel
energy class feature
Benefit: You can, as a swift action, utilize one of your
uses of channel energy to grant yourself a divine
bonus to CMB and CMD for one round. The bonus is
equal to twice the number of dice you would normally
roll when channeling energy (1d6 equals +2 bonus,
2d6 equals +4 bonus, etc.).
Wind Walker Wind Walker Wind Walker Wind Walker
Your affinity with the air allows you to literally step on
the air, increasing your jumps and reducing damage
taken from falls.
Prerequisite: Air, Cloud or Wind Domain
Benefit: When you leap or jump, you may add 1/2
your class level (minimum of 1) to your Acrobatic skill
check. Furthermore, when you fall, reduce the
distance fallen by 5 feet per class level when
calculating damage. Only class levels from a class
granting access to the relevant domain are considered
when using this feat.
Special: This ability stacks with the monks slow fall
ability but does not require the character to be next to
a wall.
Special: A 20th level character with this feat is
considered to have an at-will feather fall ability.
Channeling Effects for the Wind Channeling Effects for the Wind Channeling Effects for the Wind Channeling Effects for the Wind
and Cloud Subdomains and Cloud Subdomains and Cloud Subdomains and Cloud Subdomains
The following effects use and supplement rules from
The Secrets of Divine Channeling. If you do not have
that book, sensorial imagery describes noticeable
effects which accompany the use of channeled energy.
Minor channeling effects are available to characters
through either GM fiat, or the possession of the
appropriate trait or class. Combat Channeling effects
and Major Channeling effects are made available to a
character through the acquisition of the appropriate
feats. The DC of any saving throw is 10 +1/2 character
level + Charisma modifier. Effects granting bonuses
are either sacred or profane bonuses. None of the
effects stack with themselves, though they may stack
with other, similar effects. For more information,
consult The Secrets of Divine Channeling.
Cloud Cloud Cloud Cloud Domain Domain Domain Domain
Sensorial Imagery: White energy, tinged with light
blue, and the feeling of a wet mist
Minor Channeling Effect: Cloud Shield: You
can, as a swift action, employ one of your uses of
channel energy to momentarily condense the water in
the air around you, granting yourself protection
against fire damage. By doing this you increase your
resistance to fire by 1 for each die you would normally
roll when channeling energy (1d6 increases your resist
fire by 1, 2d6 by 2, etc.). This protection last for 1
round or until it is employed against an attack dealing
fire damage, whichever comes first.
Combat Channeling Effect: Nimbus Wave: You
can, as a standard action, use one of your uses of
channel energy to unleash an attack affecting all
characters, other than yourself, within range of your
channeled energy. A wave of billowing energy, filled
with electrical sparks, washes over any within range,
dealing both cold and electrical damage. The amount
of dice rolled for damage is equal to the number of
dice rolled for standard channeling; thus a cleric that
would normally heal 2d6 points of damage would roll
2d6 for damage. Half of all damage dealt is cold and
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the other half is electrical. A successful Reflex save
halves the damage done.
Major Channeling Effect: Cloud of Cold: You
can, as a standard action, utilize one of your uses of
channel energy to pull moisture from the air, creating
a cold, heavy fog that fills the area within the range of
your channeling. All creatures in the fog, except you,
suffer 1d6 points of cold damage (Fortitude halves)
each round. Furthermore, visibility within the fog is
limited to 5 feet, and beyond 5 feet, the fog grants
concealment (20% miss chance). The fog lasts for a
number of rounds equal to the number of dice you
would normally channel (3d6 equals 3 rounds, 4d6
equals 4 rounds, etc.).
Major Channeling Effect: Storm Cloud: You
can, as a standard action, utilize one of your uses of
channel energy to pull moisture from the air, creating
a heavy, electrically charged fog that fills the area
within the range of your channeling. All creatures in
the fog, except you, suffer 1d6 points of electrical
damage (Fortitude halves) each round. Furthermore,
visibility within the fog is limited to 5 feet, and beyond
5 feet, the fog grants concealment (20% miss chance).
The fog lasts for a number of rounds equal to the
number of dice you would normally channel (3d6
equals 3 rounds, 4d6 equals 4 rounds, etc.).
Wind Domain Wind Domain Wind Domain Wind Domain
Sensorial Imagery: A mixture of light blue and
white energy, the sound of a rushing wind and a
noticeable movement of the air.
Minor Channeling Effect: Forceful Wind: You
can, as a standard action, employ one of your uses of
channel energy to create a miniature cyclone. This
cyclone is strong enough to extinguish flames and
move up to 5 pounds of weight. The cyclone can move
15 feet per round and lasts a number of rounds equal
to the number of dice you would normally roll when
channeling energy (1d6 equals 1 round, 2d6 equals 2
rounds, etc.).
Combat
Channeling
Effect: Wind
Blast: You can use
one of your uses of
channel energy to
create a rolling blast
of air, 10 feet wide
and extending out to
a range twice that of
your normal range of
channeling (solid
objects such as walls
block the blast). Any
creatures or objects
within the area of
effect take 1d6 points
of damage for every
two dice you would
normally roll when
channeling, and are
knocked prone
(Fortitude save halves the damage and negates the
prone effect).
Major Channeling Effect: Shield of Air: You can
employ one of your uses of channel energy to create
an area of thick, swirling winds, providing material
protection to all those within range of your
channeling. Those moving through the area of effect
have their speed reduced by 5 feet and suffer a -2
penalty to any melee attacks they make. Ranged
attacks into, within, or out of the area of effect suffer a
-4 penalty. This effect is not subject to selective
channel and lasts for a number of rounds equal to the
number of dice you would normally roll when
channeling (3d6 equals 3 rounds, etc.).
Major Channeling Effect: Pillar of Air: You can,
as a standard action, utilize one of your uses of
channel energy to create a 5-foot wide column of wind
sufficient to lift objects, including, possibly, yourself.
You may, in this way, for each dice you would
normally roll when channeling, levitate 50 lbs. ten feet
for one round (3d6 would lift 150 lbs. thirty feet into
the air for up to three rounds, etc.). The range of this
ability is equal to the range of your channeling ability.
When attempting to lift an unwilling character, a
Reflex save negates the effect for one round. If an
object is forcefully lifted against an obstacle such as a
roof, damage is equal to 1d6 for every ten feet the
obstruction is below the ultimate height of the air
column (Reflex halves damage). (Example: If a cleric
could lift an individual forty feet, but there is a roof
ten feet above the floor, the individual would take 3d6
points of damage, one die for each of the remaining
ten feet; though again, a successful Reflex save would
halve this damage.) If a cleric lifts an object or
individual with the column of air and then ceases to
lift it or fails to bring it gently down, falling damage
applies as normal.
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Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin
By Michael Welham
Illustration by Joe Calkins
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. I have
discovered they do more than just provide a
voyeuristic look at the innermost depths of their
owners. Rather, they take on their owners virtues
and vices, and one can readily harvest the power
associated with those ideals by extracting the eyes. I
could not care less about virtuous folkthe power
they provide does not suit someone of my stature. Ah,
but the eyes of a greedy merchant, lustful noble, or
ever-hungry brute, those are a much greater
treasure to me.
--Aniter the Crafter, speaking to himself while carving
out the eyes of the ogre Craggus, the self-styled
Glutton King.
Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin
The eyes floating nearby shine with an inherent
malevolence. The left eye seems to wink as the right
eye fires a beam of green light.
All eyes of sin have the same base statistics. Individual
types of eyes differ in the ability damage they inflict
and the curses they bestow on their victims.
Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin CR 7 CR 7 CR 7 CR 7
XP 3,200
NE Diminutive construct
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision;
Perception +10
Defense Defense Defense Defense
AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 14
(+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 size)
hp 65 (10d10 + 10)
Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +3
DR 5/adamantine and bludgeoning; Immune
construct traits
Offense Offense Offense Offense
Speed fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks eye rays (+16 ranged touch), sin
bind
Statistics Statistics Statistics Statistics
Str 1, Dex 21, Con , Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 14
Base Atk +10; CMB +21; CMD 35
Feats Ability Focus (eye rays), Dodge, Improved
Initiative, Toughness, Weapon Focus (ray)
Skills Bluff +7, Fly +19, Perception +10, Sense
Motive +5, Stealth +17
Languages telepathy (100 ft.)
Ecology Ecology Ecology Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure none
Special Abilities Special Abilities Special Abilities Special Abilities
Eye Rays (Su) The eyes of sin can fire one eye ray
each round, but must wait one round before using the
same eye ray again. The left eye affects the victim with
bestow curse, with effects dependent on the particular
eyes of sin. This effect has a Will save DC of 19 and is
Charisma-based. The right eye damages an ability
score, as noted in the specific eyes of sin entry.
Sin Bind (Su) By convincing a sentient creature to
replace its own eyes with the eyes of sin, the creature
controls its victim as if it cast dominate person (CL
9th, no saving throw). The dominated creature will
not do anything self-destructive, but it will carry out
orders which would normally be against its nature.
The creature retains all of its former abilities and
gains the eye rays ability, using its own ranged attack
bonus (benefitting from Weapon Focus if it did not
already have that feat) and using 1/2 its HD plus its
Charisma bonus to set the save DC.
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Countering this effect requires dispel evil or a
successful dispel magic followed by the removal of the
eyes of sin within 2 rounds, necessitating a DC 20
Heal check. A wish or miracle spell counters this
effect automatically, forcing the eyes out of its victim.
The eyes of sin, constructs created through a foul
process, come from those creatures who have
personified one of the seven deadly sins, or who have
met their demise due to someone overtly committing
one of the sins. The eyes could originate from the
greedy merchant who sells shoddy merchandise for
massive profit as he moves from town to town to stay
ahead of those he has swindled. They could also be
from the elderly woman murdered within yards of the
indolent guard who could not be bothered to
intervene while she was robbed and killed. The taint
of that sin settles in the perpetrators or victims eyes,
and a savvy (and demented) individual can reap the
eyes, converting them into a powerful tool.
Typically a creator employs the eyes to convince a
victim to replace his own eyes with the eyes of sin,
thus providing a thrall to the eyes creator. They seek
out someone easy to persuadea scoundrel who beds
every woman he meets is easy prey for eyes of lust,
and eyes of wrath search for a highly vengeful
individual. The creature stays out of view while
telepathically goading its prey on, working on his
insecurities or cravings for power, eventually wearing
him down enough so he will make a terrible bargain.
Sometimes, though, the creator himself practices the
deadly sin and the eyes provide a means to more
readily achieve his goals. A jealous creator sends his
eyes of envy out to ruin the life of a hated rival whom
the creator feels only obtained his popularity or power
through luck. The owner of the eyes of pride uses
them to bring down a mighty member of society solely
to stroke his ego.
A creator clever and insane enough to defeat a
daemon and harvest its eyes can construct a more
powerful version of the eyes of sin. Its Charisma
improves by +6 (increasing the DCs for all saving
throws by +3), the ability score damage of its right eye
improves by 1 step, and its sin bind ability emulates
dominate monster. This doubles the construction cost
and increases the caster level requirement to 13th.
Construction Construction Construction Construction
The eyes themselves cost nothing; rather, a DC 20
Heal check is required to extract the eyes without
damaging them. They must then be treated with
magical preservatives and unguents worth at least
1,000 gp.
Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin Eyes of Sin
CL 9th; Price 26,000 gp
Construction
Requirements Craft Construct, animate objects,
bestow curse, dominate person, limited wish, creator
must be caster level 9th; Skill Heal DC 20; Cost
13,500 gp
Specific Eyes of Sin Specific Eyes of Sin Specific Eyes of Sin Specific Eyes of Sin
Eyes of Sloth Eyes of Sloth Eyes of Sloth Eyes of Sloth
Here we have a sad soul who refused to leave his
home, even when all his inheritance ran out and he
needed to work. Soon the deliveries of food stopped
coming, and he just withered away. Thankfully, his
eyes remained remarkably fresh.
When the left eye curses someone, he finds himself
unable to act with any alacrity. He can only take one
move action or standard action per round. A victim of
the right eye finds his muscles respond poorly, as the
eye deals 1d6 points of Strength damage.
Eyes of Envy Eyes of Envy Eyes of Envy Eyes of Envy
Poor Beatriceher best friend proved to be no
friend at all. Millicent knew that Beatrices husband
could have done better as her husband, and Beatrice
only had all those nice things because she stole the
man who was rightfully hers. Millicent launched an
unholy campaign against her, culminating in a false
accusation of Beatrices involvement in an affair with
her husbands business competitor. As Beatrice
struggled to rebuild the shambles of her life, relying
on the advice of her dear friend, Millicent gleefully
detailed how she arranged all her misfortune. The
pitiable woman died of a broken heart, the betrayal
brought about by petty jealousy seared into her soul.
Her pretty blue eyes have changed into an eerie
shade of green.
A creature cursed by the left eye pays more attention
to what others dofocusing instead on the unfair
benefits they receive. He becomes less aware of his
own surroundings and slower to react, taking a -10
penalty to Perception and Sense Motive checks as well
as a -2 penalty to Initiative. The right eye paralyzes its
target with the fear he is missing out on opportunities
others might be enjoying. In so doing, the eye causes
1d6 points of Dexterity damage.
Eyes of Gluttony Eyes of Gluttony Eyes of Gluttony Eyes of Gluttony
Yes. The Glutton King, fearsome and brutal killer
with a voracious appetite which included the foes he
slaughtered in combat. Bribing that soldier to lose
the beasts head was worth the money I paid.
The left eye of this creature forces the victim to
consume 20 times the normal amount of food,
requiring him to stop any activity once per hour to
spend 10 minutes eating. The right eye weakens the
victim with hunger, inflicting 1d4 points of
Constitution damage.
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Eyes of Wrath Eyes of Wrath Eyes of Wrath Eyes of Wrath
Gang warfare in this city runs rampant, so wrath is
easy to come by. To get a special flavor of this
particular sin, one has to arrange for the death of a
gang leaders beloved family member and pin the
blame on a rival gang. Then, thanks to the luck with
which I am abundantly blessed, the leader dies just
after personally exterminating the other gang. His
eyes still blazed with rage hours after his death.
The curse bestowed by the left eye induces rage in its
victim whenever he experiences stress. At the
beginning of combat or any other dangerous
encounter, he must succeed at a DC 19 Will saving
throw or become confused for 5 rounds. A victim
struck by the right eye ray takes 1d6 points of
Intelligence damage as his mind becomes clouded
with anger.
Eyes of Lust Eyes of Lust Eyes of Lust Eyes of Lust
This specimen was too all easy to procure. Still, I
wanted to ensure I found someone who suffered the
greatest fall from grace due to his inability to keep
his desires in check. I exercised patience, and finally
reaped the rewards when the outwardly pious leader
of the Order of Mercy was caught with one of his
young female disciples. Arranging for the
girls father to quietly murder him cost me
quite a bit and forced me to employ my eyes
of wrath before I was ready. It was worth it,
howeverhis eyes have an exquisite silver
shimmer, and I have caught them ogling
my maid.
The left eye of lust causes the victim to be
affected by a suggestion spell whenever a
creature he would be attracted to asks him to
do something, unless he succeeds at a DC 19
Will saving throw. The right eye clouds the
mind of its victim, doing 1d6 points of
Wisdom damage.
Eyes of Greed Eyes of Greed Eyes of Greed Eyes of Greed
I have to admit, I find the eyes from this
gullible fool my most satisfying acquisition.
As much as I deigned to work with someone
beneath me, I partnered with a con man to
part a wealthy baroness from her money
under the guise of tripling her current worth.
It took several months, but the woman finally
ended up penniless and on the street, looked
down upon by those she sneered at just days
prior. As I predicted, she took her own life,
and soon thereafter I harvested those eyes
whose soul had been tainted and undone by
her own avarice.
A victim of the left eye must succeed at a DC
19 Will saving throw whenever he sees an
unattended object. Failure means he will try
to take the item, using whatever means he has
at his disposal. The right eye reveals the victims
greed, and others view him with disdain as the eye
causes 1d8 points of Charisma damage.
Eyes of Pride Eyes of Pride Eyes of Pride Eyes of Pride
Ive saved my greatest creation for last. As befits the
greatest of all the deadly sins, I must harvest from
the most powerful being I know. Thus, I remove my
own eyes, knowing that I will vastly increase my
own personal power
--The last words spoken by Aniter the Crafter whose
maid discovered his body, eyeless and bleeding out of
the empty sockets. The whereabouts of his creations is
currently unknown.
The most insidious of the eyes of sin, the left eye
instills a belief in its victim that he requires no
assistance from a lesser personmeaning anyone. The
victim must succeed at a DC 19 Will saving throw in
order to benefit from any spell or effect from an ally.
Additionally, he cannot flank with an ally, nor can he
receive bonuses from aid another. The right eye,
equally insidious, grants a +2 enhancement bonus to
an ability score of the victims choice, at the cost of
1d2 points of damage to each other ability score (roll
separately for each one).
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The The The The Care Care Care Care and Maintenance of Your Clockwork Tower and Maintenance of Your Clockwork Tower and Maintenance of Your Clockwork Tower and Maintenance of Your Clockwork Tower
By T. H. Gulliver
Beginning in the voice of adventurer Owain
Northway, this Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
compatible supplement describes Northway's visit to
the inside of a clockwork towera visit that he does
not remember but which he pieces together from
strange notes left to him by an alternate future self.
The supplement includes a printable map pack
containing twelve pages of gorgeous black and white
maps by Richard Biggs Jr. The maps alone make this
product worth its purchase price.
Clockwork Tower Background
The tower was originally built by Tillory, a
brilliant artificer who is now trapped inside the tower,
and her chronomancer lover. Tillory originally
intended for the tower to be a base from which she
could work on her clockwork inventions without
worrying about the passage of time. When the tower
functions properly, a month passes inside the tower
for every day that passes outside of it, thus allowing
the heroic Tillory to produce customized clockwork
devices to combat any particular danger that her
future self is facing.
When Tillory's chronomancer lover tried to seize
control of the tower and use it to manipulate time, the
tower was sabotaged by temporal stalkersguardians
of continuity that reside in the flow of time. One of
them remains in the tower ensuring that the towers
inhabitants do not succeed in fixing it. The sabotaged
tower is currently slipping backwards in time, slowly
gaining momentum, and will eventually collide into
the beginning of time and disappear. Within the
tower, a quickling homunculus, once the familiar of
the vanished chronomancer, tries desperately to steer
this machine into an alternate timestream hoping in
vain to find the chronomancer and prevent the towers
destruction. A clockwork duelist, Tillory's guardian,
patrols the lower level of the tower trying to find the
meddling temporal stalker.
Reviews for the Clockwork Tower were very
positive. The most frequently asked question about
the product was not what was included but what was
left outa discussion of what to do with the
Clockwork Tower if the PCs gained control over it. I
left this question unanswered intentionally; many
GMs are cautious regarding time travel.
Time travel is a challenge for roleplaying games
and often feels anachronistic in fantasy roleplaying in
particular. When broken, the Clockwork Towers
abilities are severely limited; it moves backwards in
time, very slowly. Even if the PCs repair the tower so
that it functions as designed, it provides a place to
craft, heal, and study without worrying about the
passage of time.
Game Masters who want to introduce time travel into
their campaigns can expand functionality of the
Clockwork Tower. Below are some suggested
possibilities, arranged from least likely to annoy the
temporal stalkers to most likely to cause the GM to
have a massive-irresolvable-paradox headache.
Gaining Control Over the Tower Gaining Control Over the Tower Gaining Control Over the Tower Gaining Control Over the Tower
If the PCs rescue Tillory from the temporal hiccup in
which she is trapped, she will repair the tower but will
be reluctant to let them use it for time travel without a
good reason.
If the PCs locate Tillorys mysteriously missing
chronomancer lover, he can steer the tower and act as
a high level NPC in the campaign.
Channer, the quickling homunculus familiar of the
chronomancer, wears a pair of augury gogglesa
new wondrous item. PCs can use these goggles to gain
limited information about different timestreams,
which can help them steer the tower.
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
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The Temporal Stalkers The Temporal Stalkers The Temporal Stalkers The Temporal Stalkers Have a Job for You Have a Job for You Have a Job for You Have a Job for You
The temporal stalkersthe traffic police of time and
general busybodies who ensure that everything
happens the way it always didneed something done
by somebody willing to bend the rules and work
outside of temporal law. Luring the PCs to the tower
through a fragment from a journal written by one of
the PCs future selves, the temporal stalkers set it on a
course for a deeply troubled, topsy-turvy timestream
and give them a mission to accomplish. As the PCs are
moving into a different timestream, there are no
consequences for their own timestream.
The temporal stalkers might want the PCs ...
to track down and eliminate a fugitive chronomancer;
to steal a disturbingly anachronistic device from a
wizard's tower;
or to temporarily take the place of a person who has
temporarily slipped into a temporal rift.
The stalkers would do it themselves but
there are rules against it!
they arent nearly powerful enough.
it is a little embarrassing because they caused it.
it would involve far too much paperwork.
Travelling Forwards in Time
A trip from a world of swords and sorcery to one of
militias and machines can be a short sidequest or the
beginning of a strange new campaign. A mixed period
campaign requires the Game Master to prepare and
communicate house rules as the PCs interact with new
technology or use ancient and forgotten magic. If the
PCs manage to use the Clockwork Tower to drag a
Black Hawk helicopter back to their own time, they
soon catch the attention of the temporal stalkers.
Unless you have chronomancers in your campaign,
PCs must make a Use Magic Device check to steer the
Clockwork Tower backward and forward in time.
Every time the PCs try to set the Clockwork Tower in
motion, they make a DC 20 Use Magic Device check
with the modifiers below.
Time Jumped DC Modifier
1d10 months +0
1d10 years +2
1d10 decades +4
1d10 centuries +8
2d10 centuries +16
The modifier doubles if the PCs are attempting to
choose a specific month, year, decade, or century.
Circumstance DC Modifier
Time period is the PCs' own -8
Time period is familiar to the PCs -4
Time period is somewhat familiar. -2
Wearing the augury goggles -4
Travelling Backwards in Time
Any trip backwards in time is going to annoy the
crusaders of continuity. As the PCs interact with their
own past, the temporal stalkers try to foil them in
increasingly creative ways such as by replacing the big
bad evil guys that the heroes just defeated with a
nearly exact counterpart from a less important
timestream, by arming the enemy orcs with modern
equipment, or by revealing to the heroic PCs how a
certain blow for justice in the past will have severe
personal negative consequences for them in the
future.
When PCs interact with a timestream in a way that
messes with continuity, GMs can roll on the table
below to playfully represent that fact.
1d100 Effect
1-30 One PC's holy symbol, hair color, coat of
arms, or clothes change slightly in
appearance.
31-50 One PC's holy symbol, coat of arms, or
other symbol of affiliation change for that
of an historic enemy.
51-70 One PC's gender changes.
71-80 Two PC's no longer recognize each other.
81-90 A feat or trait that a PC took at first level to
represent their background or training is
changed for a distinctly different trait.
91-95 One PC disappears and is replaced by a
completely different PC of the same or
similar class.
96-
100
All players pass their character sheets to
the player to their right but their names
and aspects of their original PCs
backgrounds become those of the new
character they are playing.
When the PCs have affected continuity in this way, the
temporal stalkers arrive to indicate how to set it right
and insist that the PCs do this. Successfully repairing
continuity causes the changes above to revert to
normal. Failure to repair the timeline makes these
changes permanent.
Back to the Future
When the PCs are trying to return to their own time
period after changing the past, the Clockwork Tower
can get lost among the many branching timestreams
the PCs' interference created. Every change in the past
makes it more difficult to find your own largely
unchanged future. More severe changes cause greater
difficulties. Use the following modifiers to Use Magic
Device checks to get back to the future.
Circumstance DC Modifier
Changes on a global scale -20
Localized changes -10
Historically insignificant changes -4
Mild changes to individuals -4
Barely perceptible changes -2
Whether you, as a Game Master, want time travel to
be a quick sidequest that, if the PCs succeed, never
actually happened, or whether you want to make it the
basis of a series of adventures for a group that needs
something completely different, the Clockwork Tower
is an Evocative City Site worth exploring. Pick it up
before it crashes into the beginning of time and never
existed.
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
O
n
S
a
l
e
N
o
w
!
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
26
Whats Evocative?
By Robert N. Emerson
According to many dictionaries, including the one
over at Dictionary.com, when something has the
tendency to evoke, it is evocative. With respect to Rite
Publishings Evocative City Site series, of which I
have been the editor and for which am now the Line
Developer, it means to take a location and apply a
milieu or trope that is, or can be, readily associated
with it. Basically, with respect to our series, it means
to design a location and attach something to it that
tends to evoke a touchstone concept or idea.
Whether it is a den of inequity, an inn with a twist, a
common room frequented by the villainous, or a
garden where something is just not right, they are
often places and ideas that touch upon things that we
have read or seen before. Or, if yet to be seen, they
could be.
If we look at our favorite stories, whether they are
in text or on screen, we can break down what calls to
us and notice similarities that often cross genres. One
such example is the Heros Journey. Here, a young
person finds himself linked to legendary legacy and is
guided by an elder mentor that teaches him of this
path, yet the young hero loses the mentor on the way.
Sound familiar?
How about when a person becomes separated from
all that she has known, all that she is familiar with,
and finds herself in an unfamiliar place, with an
unfamiliar people, with whom she slowly starts to
identify and defend? Or a mysterious place of wonder
where those honest and pure survive, yet those
disingenuous and corruptible fall to temptation time
and time again? Or helping a disheveled throwaway
only to later find out that he is a personage of note?
It is these touchstones that draw us into a story,
that inspire us to find interest in where it leads us. It
is this bone upon which the evocative flesh is laid.
Upon the skeletal layout of any creation we lay sinew,
muscle, and viscera, as this moves them forward. But
over it all is evocative flesh: that which inspires our
interest, flames our reactions, and kindles long-
burning fires committed to exploring further and
further.
It is this flesh that separates a hackneyed attempt at
being evocative from that which is truly so. If you do
not believe me, then look back at books that you have
read and cinema that you have watched. When you
reflect on them, good or bad, how often was it that you
were drawn to something because it reminded you of
something you liked, and your dislike was because of
how poorly it used that memory?
Now I am not talking about a famous property that
misuses or abuses canon, as that is a different story
for a different day. Instead I am referring to those
moments where you see a cover, or a trailer, or a
commercial that hits upon the touchstones of
something you like, be it setting, character, or what
not. You become so hyped, so excited to see it, yet
when you do it is a weak impersonation of what you
hoped for it to be. It was as if it teased you with a
tried, true, and familiar feeling and then dumped cold
water on you once you were there.
Anyone can write a story that uses a curiosity shop
in the opening act, as those are often places of mystery
to folks with an imagination. The uncanny shopkeeper
is there, as is the looming room that reeks with
foreboding. The unexplained items of mystery lay
about, one more unusual than the next, and they all
lead to something that is enticing, sometimes benign
in its looks that stands out from it all. If done rightly
you experience an exciting romp about the
importance of the littlest things, and if done wrong it
is lackluster camp fueled by a rule that made no sense
and by which you could not abide.
Yet we are not here to fully explore the whole story
of what does and does not evoke, but instead we are
here to talk about places like that curio and what
makes it evocative. It is easy to describe somewhere as
mysterious, since all we need do is make sure to
include the word mysterious, or foreboding, or
wordplays like cloaked in uncanny shadows or
draped in the unusual. But making something
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27
evocative requires knowing what to make stand out,
what to only hint at, and what to leave mostly ignored.
So, Ill pick a place, populate it with beings and
objects, and layer it in ambiance. Lets see how this
works, in practice.
How about a building atop a hill? It is a common
site in many a hamlet or city, and one that can often
have local lore attached to it.
What makes it unusual? It definitely has to stand
out from the buildings around it, often because of age
or architecture. Anachronisms always inspire tall
tales, because they are both unfamiliar to the
contemporary and beyond our perceived scope of
understanding.
So how about a two-story rectangular house with a
cylindrical tower in place of one of its corners. An
almost symmetrical rectangle with one of its four
corners made to stand out with the curve of a tower
that raises an additional story above the main
building. Not only that, but let us make the house
itself sided by dark brown wooden shingles and the
tower a dirty yellow adobe.
Now that stands out, does it not?
Not only is the architecture different than that
found in common references, but the look and color
stands out as well.
Next it needs a name, something for the locals to
whisper about and children to dare one and other
with. There are the obvious ones, like the Wizard
House or Hermits Tower, but we should use
something simple, yet catchy. How about The Pale
Shade, as there is an old, rickety sign that calls it that.
Sure there would be stories about the name, but the
fact is, it was named for the stout, old oak of an
unusual fair coloring that shades the house and its
retreat. The sign is a hanging shingle that swings back
and forth upon rings, filling the arc with mourning
metallic whines during a windy evening.
Of course it is a not-so-abandoned residence, where
folks rarely see, or perhaps rarely notice, the hermit
within the shady house. Is it by will or by force that no
one sees those within the house? Movement is often
seen at the windows, windows that are often lit at
night, so something goes on unseen within the house.
Lets go with forced, as it already takes an interesting
turn toward the evocative.
What forces hermitage upon the residents? Is it the
house itself? I think not, as that could be a bit too
clich and if we are going to do a clich then why not
go for one with gusto?
Why not a force within the house that is forcing
those within to stay? But instead of fear, why not use
love as the force? Perhaps the resident of the house is
stuck because the spirit of a loved one is haunting the
house after a tragic, terrible death? Not only is the
spirit trapped, but its personality is fractured
depending on where in the house their corporeal
spouse happens to be.
Spouse? While I had not originally chosen the
relationship between the kept and the spirit, a spousal
one does make sense so lets run with that.
Now because the incorporeal spouses personality is
fractured throughout the house, it only makes sense
that it is malevolent and dangerous in some places,
but benevolent and safe in others. Also, this adds to
the reason why the corporeal spouse has stayed; it is
not only love for the slain loved one but also
consideration for others who might stumble upon the
dissociative spirit within. Also, it adds an element of
why the living resident is without kith or kin, as the
resident has been kept away out of concern for life
and limb.
Now it is at a point like this that we should think
about rules. Although I will not be wrapping this
flavor around a mechanical bone right now, I figured
that using the Haunt rules from Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game: GameMastery Guide by Paizo
makes the most sense. Why? Well, Pathfinder is the
game for which many of the products on which I work
is designed, and I like the Haunt rules for it. It is also
a good idea to work toward a mechanical concept
when you are laying out the flavor text, so that you do
not have to create new rules after noticing that you
described something that the rules you want to use
cannot handle.
Next we have to make a couple decisions, such as
where the slain spouse was killed, why, and which
areas are dangerous and which are safe within the
house.
Let us say that the death was caused by jealousy, yet
add the twist that it was someone else who had
feelings for the living spouse and it was this other
person who killed the spouse. Why? Well not only
does it give an extra motivation for the living spouse
to be kept at this place, but also it adds extra
emotional basis for the fractured spirit idea. Not only
was it someone who coveted the spouse that was the
killer, but the killer acted within the home where the
couples love should have been safe.
So that covers the why, which brings us to the
where.
How about the stairs of the tower portion of the
house? We could use more gender-specific aspects,
such as the kitchen or the den, but why tread upon
well-worn stereotypes when we can delve more deeply
into the motivations of the location.
Let us say that the covetous person snuck into the
house and headed toward the workshop atop the
tower. The now slain spouse found the intruder, and
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28
during a heated argument, the covetous person
shoved the victim down the spiral stairs to an
untimely death. The killer definitely got away, which
not only adds to the spirits motivations to haunt, but
also gives us a plot seed to exploit later. Perhaps
bringing the killer to justice might allow the spirit to
rest, or become whole.
Now we must look at which places are safe and
which are dangerous. The tower workshop is
definitely a safe place, as not only is the living spouse
there into the night but it is also the last place where
the victim was safe. Thus, the stairs leading to it are
definitely dangerous as it was the site of so many
important events: the death itself, the discovery of the
covetous intruder, the struggle that lead to the murder
and the escape of the murderer. The hearth makes
sense as being safe, too, since the spirit has many
good memories associated with it and it allows for the
living spouse to be able to take nourishment during
this hermitage. The bedroom makes sense to be safe
for those same reasons. However, transitory
entrances, like the front and back foyers, make sense
to be places of danger since the killer could have come
and gone through them.
So now we have a place known as The Pale Shade
where a living spouse is in a self-imposed hermitage
due to the guilt over a slain spouses death, and a
fractured spirit haunts the nest of its former life. A
righteous rage at an unjust and unpunished murder
not only bound the spirit to our world, but also
fractured it into benevolent and malevolent pieces.
The living spouse now seeks a way to mend or give
rest to the spirit of the fallen beloved, yet this cannot
be accomplished alone, nor can the suffering spouse
leave to find help for fear of someone stumbling into
danger.
Now I did not throw any genders on the dramatis
personae, nor did I emphasize a place, location,
names, or the setting. While it is quite thin, as it needs
only be a place that allows the metaphysical (as most
places that use the Pathfinder game would), the
concepts are enough to help make the point. Basically
this is just an example of a ghost story trope given a
twist, scattered with some seed, and left to see what
grows. It is more than an outline, but definitely much
less than a finished piece, and I hope it helps
illuminate what is evocative. It shows the skeletal
framework of a ghost story, which is then made more
substantial with a few layers of viscera and meat. All
that is left now is to throw a few layers of flesh over it
all and the story becomes more complex, and more
evocative. Perhaps the killer is a fallen cleric, now
apostate, who will return to cast the spirit out, or try
to claim the unwilling love of the living spouse?
Who knows what will happen, as maybe it will lend
itself to a larger piece for an uncommon campaign, or
even an adventure of your own? Now why not give it a
try?
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
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Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
30
20 20 20 20 Questions with the Questions with the Questions with the Questions with the
Pathfinder Compatible Publishers! Pathfinder Compatible Publishers! Pathfinder Compatible Publishers! Pathfinder Compatible Publishers!
1. Could you tell us a little about
yourself and your company?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Sure, I was one half
of Necromancer Games in the 3.0 and 3.5 days. I did
creative and Clark did business. One of my
Freelancers was Greg Vaughan. We do modules. Short
adventures, long adventures, series adventures, all
adventures all the time. We have a few other books:
Swords and Wizardry Complete, UBAD (Ultimate
Book of Adventure Design) and Tome of Horrors
Complete, but really our expertise is in less-than-100-
page, low price-point modules.
We are really just a DIY company with a lot of
industry history and know-how. Like our website
says:
We consist of old grognard gamers, including a
brilliant layout guy, and a cartographer who was
not even a gamer when we recruited him. We have
more than a few writing credits to our name, and
have decided after dealing with publishers, printers
and middlemen to head off on our own and make
some books. We have developed friendships with,
and worked with the best and most famous writers in
the industry. We are the real deal.
We have added a couple people to the mix, most
notably Skeeter Greene and Matt Finch. Matt is the
guy who authored and invented the Swords and
Wizardry game system, and Skeet (with help from our
trusty old friend D&D chick Erica) is our main
translator between Matt and the Pathfinder audience.
I think what really makes us unique is that we support
two game systems, not with double-statted modules,
but with reworked modules (same storyline,
mechanics are all changed) for both. Our goal is to
create short adventures for middle-aged GMs like
ourselves (well, and maybe some younger folks too).
The one thing we are best known for is tough
adventuresno walk in the park here.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Sure!
My name is Bret Boyd and I started gaming during my
tenure in Boy Scouts back in the mid-80s. Most
people don't know that I'm a pharmacy technician by
day and run Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc. by night
(or at least on those nights that I have time!). Tricky
Owlbear was started in 2007 at the suggestion of my
brother, Scot (who is the technical arm of the
company). I started freelancing in 2000 when d20
came onto the scene and, although I now run TOP, I
still keep my hand in the writing arena. We produce
products for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying
Game as well as for retro-clones like Swords &
Wizardry, and even occasionally crank out something
for v3.5 (our Behind the Spells and Behind the
Monsters lines).
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Raging Swan Press is a small publisher of Pathfinder
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
31
compatible supplements and adventures based in
Devon, England. We produce affordable, high-quality
gaming products that a GM can easily insert into his
personal campaign.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Hi. My
name is Dale McCoy and I run Jon Brazer Enterprises.
We started off in the Spring of 2009 publishing
Traveller compatible supplements and started
working on Pathfinder once the license became
available. Our print products are sold in game stores
across North America and Europe. While I run the
more business side of the company, we hire a number
of freelance writers, artists and editors. I also want to
give a shout out to the d20pfsrd.com crew for their
invaluable help and support. My girlfriend lends her
professional marketing skills and is our copyright and
chief critic. And her anthropology degree helps a lot
too. (She told me to put that last sentence in there.)
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Im
Jeremy Smith, the owner of Dreamscarred Press, a
role-playing game publisher focused primarily on the
different psionic rulesets. Weve been publishing for
almost five years and have recently made the jump to
supporting the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by
offering the first psionic rules.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: The
official company line: Louis Porter Jr. Design Inc. is
an independent entertainment and game publishing
company created in 1997, located in Cooper City,
Florida. Louis Porter, Jr. Design, Inc. is a dedicated
game publishing company specializing in the
development of high-energy action and hyper-kinetic
adventure settings. Their first successful venture,
Haven: City of Violence. Louis Porter Jr. Design has
also released the best selling NeoExodus: A House
Divided RPG setting and the upcoming Xao: Island of
Iron and Silk RPG mini-setting. Louis Porter Jr.
Design Inc. also produces Adobe Acrobat PDF
material based on the Open Gaming License created
by Wizards of the Coast for sale on RPGNow and
DriveThruRPG. Louis Porter Jr. Design has recently
created Deathmate Records, and independent digital
music netlabel. With their movie optioning by Brigade
Entertainment only helped solidify the Haven: City of
Violence brand and Louis Porter, Jr. Design as
innovating and important gaming company on the
rise.
My personal mantra: I just like to make cool games.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: I founded 0one
Games [Zero-One Games] back in 1999 but Ive been
working for the game industry since 1989, for local
gaming magazines, and by designing some games. My
first published adventure (in Italy) was in 1990. Im
an architect and the son of an architect (hence my
skills in drawing maps) and, before founding 0one
Games I ran through many jobs: architect, graphic
designer, web designer, video editor and more. I felt,
however, unsatisfied and then decided to try to
become a game publisher. It worked; now 0one
Games is my life.
0one Games was the first company to ever sell a d20
adventure module and quickly gained popularity as
one of the best map-making companies. We joined
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
32
PDF technology with classic mapmaking, obtaining,
as result, the widely appreciated Blueprints.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Purple Duck
Games was started in August of 2010 as a joint
venture of Mark Gedak and Stefen Styrsky. Mark has
been a longtime reviewer, hobbylancer and operator
of the Grand OGL Wiki. Stefen is a regular freelancer
for Kobold Quarterly, Open Design, Gun Metal Games
and Adamant.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: My
name is Owen K.C. Stephens (with no space between
the K. and C., if I can help it), and Im a full-time
writer and developer with an emphasis on RPGs. Ive
worked in the industry full-time since 1997, and
worked with such companies as WotC, Paizo, Green
Ronin, Upper Deck, White Wolf, Steve Jackson
Games, and Goodman Games. I worked on all three
d20 versions of Star Wars Roleplaying Game, D&D
3.0/3.5/4e, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and a lot
of licensed properties.
Im currently the Lead Developer for Super Genius
Games, which is a small company that makes print
and PDF supplements for other games, notably the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and Call of Cthulhu.
We were one of the early companies to support the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and have produced a
support PDF every week since November 2009.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Ive been a gamer for almost 34 years now and always
thought it would be cool to get into publishing. In
2009 when Paizo announced the Pathfinder
Compatibility License, my wife, Connie, and I decided
it was a good time to put up or shut up, as the saying
goes. We founded 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming in March
2009 with the intention of producing material under
that license.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: I started gaming
at the age of 15, starting with Marvel Super Heroes at
Chicago Comicon with Stephen Schend acting as my
first GM; I eventually become extremely active in the
Wheel of Time d20 fan community and Arcana
Evolved. This eventually led to me starting Rite
Publishing. We create weekly PDF releases, evocative
patronage projects, and will soon be releasing a print
product every month through our partnership with
Cubicle Seven.
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
33
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Sure, happy to!
Im a former TSR magazine editor and Wizards of the
Coast game designer who wrote chunks of
Planescape, Al-Qadim, and a lot of other products you
may have heard of, or (hopefully) played. These days I
publish Kobold Quarterly magazine and run an RPG
company called Open Design.
2. Why did you choose to publish
products in support of the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Because I like Lisa
and Erik. Well, its really because that is what Greg
and Chuck played. Erik and Lisa have offered a great
alternative to that 4.0-something game (but that is
but not really D&D in my humble opinion). After 3.5
was over, I looked at 4.0 and just could not do it. I am
sure its a great game, but its not for me. I am an old
school guy who still plays pre-first-edition in Judges
Guild setting. Pathfinder I can understand, even if I
dont quite get all the rules.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: At first,
we just watched to see which way the wind was
blowing when Pathfinder and 4e were finding their
respective footing. It quickly became obvious that
Pathfinder was the way to go for two reasons: 4e just
didn't remind me of the classic game I knew and
loved; and the OGL, which of course powers
Pathfinder, was something not only familiar but also
irrevocable (unlike 4e's GSL). That and Paizo has a
wonderful community ready to embrace third party
publishers since that company was itself a 3PP of sorts
when it handled Dragon and Dungeon.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Mainly because I play Pathfinder, and the 3.5 market
was saturated. I love the continuity of Pathfinder in
that it builds on the long and distinguished history of
D&D a game that I have loved and played for almost
30 years.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Pathfinder
is the game I play most often. It seemed only natural
to support this awesome game.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: As a
player, Pathfinder was the game that my gaming
group and friends migrated to when 3.5 was retired.
As a publisher, the demand for 3.5 products post 4E,
as well as demand for 4E products, was minimal.
There were also no plans for psionic rules for
Pathfinder, and it seemed like a logical fit, as
Dreamscarred Press has built a reputation for the past
four years as the source for psionic material.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: I had
been publishing RPGs for nearly a decade and I had
heavily supported 3.0 & 3.5 OGL and after hearing
what Paizo had planned it really looked like
something I could really get behind. Bluntly put,
Paizo always made me feel like we were partners
work together instead of victim at their mercy like
WOTC did with 4E.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Pathfinder is the
natural evolution of d20 system, a system, I believe,
that is one of the best things to have happened to RPG
games in the last two decades. I think that Pathfinder
and d20 have a lot of potential yet to come.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: My semi-
monthly campaign uses the Pathfinder Roleplaying
Game and for a long time the content that I created
for the DM Sketchpad was focused on this rules set. I
had been hobbylancing for a few companies and just
wanted to control more of the overall process.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: My
experience with the d20 system, and many of the
principle movers and shakers at Paizo, dates back
over a decade now, and it seemed a natural match. I
have a real love for the d20 system, and very much
liked what
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming: Of
all the games I ever played, D&D was the one I loved
most and always came back to. Like many, I didnt
think 3.5 needed a drastic overhaul and I was thrilled
when Paizo announced the Pathfinder Roleplaying
Game. As fans of d20 gaming, as supporters of Paizo,
and as a brand new company, this seemed the natural
course for us.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: We had just
joined the Paizo store and were offered an
opportunity to get an advanced copy of the rules; I
loved the way Paizo worked with third party
publishers, treating them like partners rather than as
competitors.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Kobold Quarterly
is a small-but-fierce magazine loaded with official
Golarion-based articles as well as general Pathfinder
RPG material we have some amazing sneak
previews coming from Paizo this year. Ed Greenwood
once said its what a roleplaying magazine should
be, which pretty much made my decade.
Open Design is where we do adventures, sourcebooks,
and PDF series like the Advanced Feats series by
Sigfried Trent. The company pioneered the patron
approach to funding game design (later made famous
by larger companies like Kickstarter), which gives
anyone a shot at becoming a game designer.
3. What is your best moment
publishing product in support
of the Pathfinder Roleplaying
Game?
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Bill Webb, Frog God Games: When we got 150
orders of a $125 book in the first two days. The book
was written, but did not exist yet. Greg and I could not
believe it. Our reputation has always been good. But
to have people lay that kind of scratch down for vapor
was a huge vote of confidence, and really got me (us)
going again. Here we are 25 books later (in 1 year!).
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: I think
my best moment was when we released Forgotten
Foes, our mammoth book of monsters. The reviews
have all been highly positive and everyone involved
with the project was at the top of their game as it came
together. I hope the book finds a long life among
Pathfinder GMs.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Raging Swan Press ran a promotion over Christmas
which gave away free PDFs with every print version of
one of our products sold. Several customers contacted
me for the free PDFs telling me theyd asked for my
products for Christmas. That blew me away that
someone liked our stuff so much they asked for it for
Christmas.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: The first
time I walked into a game store and saw that a book I
published was on their shelf, that was one of my
dreams come true.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Currently,
we only have one product compatible with the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Psionics Unleashed.
But the best moment publishing that product was
when it finally released after a year of development
and seeing the community as a whole adopt it as the
de facto psionic rule set virtually overnight.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design:
When I released Obsidian Twilight. Obsidian Twilight
was my homage to Dark Sun and Ravenloft and I
think we did a great job with it. James poured a lot of
great work into that book and it shows.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Easy: The Great City
Players Guide. It won a gold Ennie Award as best
electronic book in 2010.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Im not sure I
have a moment that I can define as best yet.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Thats a tough call! I was asked to do an interview for
an RPG group in Peru, which was amazing. And I still
remember the first time Lisa (Lisa Stevens, Paizo
CEO) mentioned our products in a Paizo blog, which
was very cool vindication. But I think my best moment
was when I received an email from a gamer, who said
one of our products (The Genius Guide to Feats of
Subterfuge) turned his wife into a gamer, when she
had never liked the game before. Thats one of the
greatest things any publisher can do, create new
gamers, and its often by accident.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming: I
actually have a couple that rank the same for me. The
first was when we released our first print product
The Book of Arcane Magic in August 2009. Holding
that book in my hands, reading posts talking about
the book, and seeing it for sale at Paizo.com and other
places was really special. The other was when
Strategists & Tacticians our 5th print product
debuted at #1 on the RPG Countdown in May 2010.
Knowing wed hit a homerun by taking a chance on
Ryan Costellos idea he pitched seemed to confirm we
were doing the right thing.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Getting six 5 star
reviews for Coliseum Morpheuon along with watching
it sell out at the Paizo store.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: This was mostly
personal rather than a matter of system preference.
Im a bit of a system mongrel, and am easily distracted
by the next shiny gameDragon Age RPG has me in
its clutches for now, but I know Pathfinder will win
my heart back with Ultimate Magic.
Id already written for several adventure paths (Rise of
the Runelords, Legacy of Fire), and I wanted to
continue supporting Paizo. I come from the same
world as the Paizo gang, I have lunch with them
occasionally, and I want them to succeed. Heck, Ive
contributed material to the Gamemastery Guide and
monsters to Bestiary and Bestiary 2, and the Paizo
gang returns the favor by writing articles for Kobold
Quarterly.
So, I put my money where my mouth was, and
released the Imperial Gazetteer as Open Designs first
Pathfinder-compatible sourcebook. I havent looked
back since.
4. Could you tell us a little about
your best Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game compatible
product for Game Masters? For
Players?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: We are focused on
game masters primarily. Like I said, we make
adventures and scenarios, monster books and GM
utilities.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: For
GMs, our best product has to be the above-mentioned
Forgotten Foes. You get over 120 monsters of every
conceivable type, terrain, and CR and each complete
with its own handy lore table. More than a few of
these beasties were culled from Necromancer Games's
Tome of Horrors but there are also updates of some
3.5 Monster Manual creatures and even a few new
surprises just to keep things lively. The illustrations
really fire the imagination and the writing on this was
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top-notch. Given such precious raw materials, I made
damned sure the book was as well-edited as it possibly
could have been!
For players, I'd say the best product we have is our
newest Learning Curve PDF which gives players a
chance to play with apprentice-level PCs. Super
Genius produced a PDF along the same lines but Marc
Radle (the writer for Learning Curve and a freelancer
for Super Genius Games, oddly enough), gave me a
manuscript that was different enough to make me
want to publish it. You also have rules that allow for
multiclassing at first level. For whichever reason you
pick up Learning Curve, the rules inside are clear,
concise, and fun!
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press: For
GMs, I think it would be Retribution. I had so much
fun writing this adventure which is set in an
isolated, crumbling priory at the height of a vicious
winter storm. Something strange is going on and the
PCs trapped by the storm must find out what
before it is too late. For players, I think my favorite
product to date is Figurines of Wondrous Power,
which provides full details of the various figurines
(including stat blocks) in a format easy to slip into a
characters folder. I enjoyed writing it so much one of
my characters now owns a bronze griffon.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: For Game
Masters, the Book of Beasts: Monsters of the River
Nations adds monsters to your game that your players
would not see coming. Not only does it feature new
monsters but also new haunts, diseases, NPCs and
other baddies that any GM could use. For players, Id
recommend our upcoming Book of the River Nations:
Complete Player Reference for Kingdom Building.
This supplement provides you all the kingdom
building, exploration and mass combat rules in one
tome. Additionally it contains new feats, spells, secret
organizations and more. This will soon be available in
your local game store.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Psionics
Unleashed has everything needed to introduce
psionics into a game, both for a player and for a Game
Master. New classes, races, feats, items, and skills for
the players, and new monsters for the Game Master.
It is essentially an update of the 3.5 psionic rules, with
some new material thrown in, as well.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: For
me our best Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible
product for Game Masters would be Horrific Fears. If
you want to play a horror setting, it is a must have
product. A review but it best when they said want
to go for dark fantasy or just a more realistic
approach, this pdf is awesome. For players I would
say our Ultimate Spell Decks. This is the kind of
product I would find the most useful.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: For game masters I
would advise The Great City: Urban Creatures &
Lairs, a supplement featuring urban monsters, each
one with its own lair, ready to be dropped in any
urban campaign. I love these kinds of supplement that
really could save a GMs life during a game session.
For players I can point you to Road to Revolution
Campaign Arc, originally released as 3.5 product and
now being converted to Pathfinder (free conversions
available on Paizos website or at
www.0onegames.com). Its an urban campaign where
adventurers must deal with a bloodthirsty monster:
an urban revolution. Its a memorable campaign
developed by Tim Hitchcock and the Werecabbages.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: My favorite
product for game masters so far is Encounter Pages.
It is a compilation of twelve short encounters from 1st
level to 17th level. It is great for side treks and filling
in experience gaps. My inspiration for this project was
the old Wonders of Lankhmar product that had more
adventure ideas in a single book than I have ever seen
before.
For players, I think the best product would be our
newest Legendary Races: Cyclops because I think
anyone that can remember the movie Krull would love
to play a glaive-throwing cyclops as a player character.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: For
both, I suspect our best product would be the
Adventurers Handbook, which is a compilation of
expanded and updated material from some of our best
PDFs. Although, since we make our PDFs so topic-
specific, most gamers can tell what theyll get the most
out of from our titles. If you want to ride a dragon (or
have a villainous force of NPCs that do so), then the
Genius Guide to the Dragonrider is going to be more
useful to you than Advanced Options: Alchemists
Discoveries.
We also have a few short adventures, which we call
One Night Stands. Each one has a complete
adventure, along with map tiles and cardstock figures
for all the NPCs, so a lot of time-strapped GMs have
said they find it very useful.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Oh, thats a tough one. Weve got a couple lines of
PDFs called GMs Aid and Players Aid that are all
pretty useful. For the GMs I think Id say its the GMs
Aid VIII: Monster Knowledge Cards PFRPG
Edition. It has pages that can be printed and cut into
cards that contain relevant information about all the
creatures in the Bestiary and Bonus Bestiary that
characters might know, based on Knowledge skill
checks. For players, Id say Players Aid IV: Character
Record Portfolio (which is free for the non-form
fillable version!) is the best. Its a beautiful, detailed,
11-page character sheet designed for us by Talon
Dunning.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Book of Monster
Templates is, in my humble opinion, a must have for a
Pathfinder GMs table, right after the Pathfinder
Bestiary. For players I recommend the 101 series as
you will find a massive amount of options that spur
the imagination while not breaking your game.
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Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Probably seeing
the Open Design logo on the back cover of an official
Paizo release, when we shipped From Shore to Sea. It
wasnt a requirement of Open Designs agreement
with Paizo, but it was very classy of them to
acknowledge the quality and work of the patron model
on that adventure.
Brandon Hodge and the patrons of that project did
amazing stuff, and people noticed. In particular, Paizo
noticed. That makes a publisher proud.
5. Other than your own products,
what is the best Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game compatible
product out there?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: I was most
impressed by a couple of Super Genius Games
releases. Not sure I can pick one.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Anyone
who is familiar with my writing knows I'm a sucker for
time travel. With that in mind, I have to pick the
Genius Guide to the Time Thief as my favorite. I'd love
to eventually cherry-pick some things from that PDF
to use in an upcoming Tricky Owlbear product.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press: Im
very intrigued by Frog God Games Slumbering Tsar
series. It looks awesome and Ill probably be running
it my home campaign once Ive finished Kingmaker.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: The
Imperial Gazetteer by Open Design hands down is my
favorite. This book gives me the tools I need to place
and entire nation of ghouls right underneath the feet
of my players. This can be ported into any campaign
setting since it doesn't mess up the map and can
"liven up" any game.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: I was
actually really impressed with the Cerulean Seas
campaign setting from Alluria. A lot of thought went
into it and it gave a campaign setting you dont see
often, or at least one not done well often an entirely
underwater environment.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: The
Lonely Coast by Raging Swan Press. I dont know
what it is, but something about that setting excites
me. I cant really explain it.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Difficult to say. I
would have bought them all to be objective. Since I
have not, I will say what seems more attractive to me.
I like the idea of Conflict Skirmishing from Conflict
Games, OtherWorld Creations Guides, Rite
Publishings Evocative City Sites series and, because I
love old-style adventures: Sagaworks Studios
adventures.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: I have a
personal great fondness for the work of 4Winds
Fantasy Gaming who bring me high-quality material
with just a hint of goofiness sprinkled in. I also like
the racial supplements of Rite Publishing and the
psionic update from Dreamscarred Press.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Kobold Quarterly, no doubt. While it covers other
games too, it is exactly the print game magazine a lot
of Paizo fans wanted to see when Dragon went
electronic, and I think Wolfgang (Wolfgang Baur,
Kobold-in-Chief of Kobold Quarterly) has done an
amazing job with it. I get every issue, and I always
find at least one thing that makes me say Wow.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Another tough one! There are so many good products
out there, from everything Ive seen from you guys at
Rite Publishing, to the Super Genius Games products.
I think, though, I would have to go with Kobold
Quarterly as the best, mostly because I was such a big
fan of the old print version of Dragon, and KQ speaks
to the sentimental in me while it produces quality
material.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: The Super Genius
Guide to the Time Thief by Owen K. C. Stephens. This
book is everything I want a new class to be; balanced
and inspired, it pushes the envelope in naming its
abilities by having fun with them, and experimenting
by using photography rather than artwork for its
images.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Tales of the Old
Margreve is a collection of eight adventures and
extensive source material for adventuring in the deep,
dark woods. It was written by Tim and Eileen
Connors, whose work for Paizo you may remember
from Dungeon Magazine. I could tell you how great
Tales of the Old Margreve is, but Id rather quote one
of the reviewers: a contender for Best RPG product of
the year and on par with the first Forgotten Realms or
Ravenloft box set. Yes it's that good.
Everything just went right with Tales of the Old
Margreve. The design, editing, and layout all clicked.
The designers all worked smoothly toward a well-
defined goal of making the forest scary again. Its the
best wilderness adventure series ever written for
Pathfinder RPG, and its a mini-campaign with
standalone sections that go from level 1 to 10.
Paizonian Rob McCreary is using Tales of the Old
Margreve to enhance and expand his Kingmaker
campaign at the Paizo offices. If you havent picked it
up, you are missing a great book.
6. What Pathfinder Roleplaying
Game compatible product are
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you most looking forward to
releasing right now?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Everyone expects
me to say Tome of Horrors Complete. But truly I am
most excited about The Black Monastery, a huge
dungeon adventure (well, a monastery adventure)
that is haunted/occupied by evil critters. Great big,
huge, old fashioned, dungeon crawl style.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: At the
moment, I'm working on an adventure titled Sins of
the Fathers which is what I'm most looking forward to
releasing.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Because Im mischievous, Im looking forward to
releasing Rod of Wonder a detailed write up of the
iconic magic item of the same name. I dont think
enough groups have rods of wonder anymore (which
is a shame because as a GM I look forward to the
chaos they cause!).
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: The Book
of the River Nations is going to be compiled into a
print product in the near future. Well be adding a few
more buildings as well as feats and spells usable in
kingdom building and mass combat.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Im really
excited about Psionics Expanded, our advanced
psionics guide, where we can add in all the content
and options we couldnt fit into Psionics Unleashed.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: We
have three campaign settings for LPJ Design. Two are
seasonal (Obsidian Twilight and the upcoming Pirates
of the Bronze Sky) and NeoExodus: A House Divided
is our main stable ongoing campaign setting.
NeoExodus is my baby and I think Pathfinder fans
will really like this setting. Everything about it is
different from just about any other setting out there or
coming out.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: We have a lot of
Pathfinder products releasing this year and they are
mostly adventures. While I like well done
supplements and sourcebooks, to me, nothing
compares with a good adventure. So, we are starting
the Black & White Adventures line, to support our
Black & White game tiles and The Sinking, a Great
City campaign serial, which is a fresh way to run a
campaign. I think the most interesting is the Sinking
serial.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: I am mostly
looking forward to the release of Legendary Items.
This book is a companion piece to the Legendary
Weapons series.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Aaargh! I cant talk about what Im most looking
forward to releasing. We have big plans coming, but a
lot of them just arent far enough along to safely
discuss yet, some may not happen, and a few even
include NDAs from other companies. Anyone who
really wants to keep up with whats new with us, so
theyll get the updates when I can talk about these
things, can use either the SGG Facebook page or my
personal one. Thats the first place news tends to go.
Since I cant talk about what I am most looking
forward to, Ill instead talk about what Im second-
most looking forward to, which is The Genius Guide to
the Time Warden, the sequel to The Genius Guide to
Time Thief!
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Right now, Tome of Monsters, coming in March.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Breaking of
Fostor Nagar, our adventure design for use with
Virtual Table Tops; it will be a traditional product as
well but what really makes this exciting for me is that
I will have something that is specifically designed for
me to play tabletop Pathfinder with my friends who
have moved to places like Michigan and D. C. It has
some massive, glorious cartography from Jonathan
Roberts, written by ENnie winner Ben McFarland and
edited by Mark Moreland before he left us for the
hallowed halls of Paizo.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Id say that
nothing comes even close to the Advanced Feats
series, where we provide 30 feats and 3 character
builds and class analysis for all 6 of the new classes
from the Advanced Players Guide. The series has
been embraced by players, and the comments and
reviews say that were really nailing it; the ones that
make me happiest describe how balanced the feats
are, and how valuable they find the design notes and
insights by the designer.
The success of the series isnt surprising given that
Sigfried Trent is the designer. Sigfried has spent 10
years as the lorekeeper on the Netbook of Feats. Hes
got deep knowledge of the subject, and it shows in the
Witch, Oracle, Cavalier, Alchemist, and Summoner
releases. Once we ship the Inquisitor in late February,
players will have the full set!
7. What do you feel was the most
ingenious part of that product?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: No one does big
dungeons anymore. If you read my introduction to
Rappan Athuk, you will get my philosophy. Free copy
to the first non-industry fan who emails me and
quotes it ([email protected]).
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: I don't
know if it's ingenious, but Sins definitely has a few
things going for it. First of all, it's for 1st-level PCs and
it gives the characters a great reason to have their first
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adventure together. No "you meet in a tavern" stuff
here. Second, the site of the adventure can become a
base of operations for the new adventuring group. The
small town is described in detail and is chock full of
plot hooks for further adventure for the harried GM.
Third, it's non-linear once the action gets underway
but isn't complicated so that even the newest GM can
run it easily. I hope Sins becomes one of the go-to
adventures for starting a campaign.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
The rod of wonder is a classic magic item of
yesteryear, but in todays climate of buying and selling
magic items in the same way as any other commodity,
players rarely choose to own it. Its too unpredictable
and really you can buy way better stuff for 12,000 gp.
Making the rod an attractive purchase for adventurers
with a spare 12,000 gp has been an intriguing
challenge. After all, by the time you are able to spend
12,000 gp on an item there are far more attractive
things to buy.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Besides
Paizos kingdom building rules, we feel that the
streamlined layout, organization and enhancements
deliver an easy-to-use reference guide. Making it
effortless to use is this books greatest asset, as some
reviewers of the PDF series have agreed. My personal
favorite addition is the illusionary army spells. Mwah
ha ha ha. Check it out!
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Im really
excited about Psionics Expanded, our advanced
psionics guide, where we can add in all the content
and options we couldnt fit into Psionics Unleashed.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: The
races for the setting. These races make sense for this
setting on a logical sense and evolutionary sense too.
No of these races would be considered traditional
fantasy races and I think that is what helps them out
the most.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: The Sinking
introduces a new fresh way to make a campaign. Its
horizontal campaigning against vertical campaign. In
a normal campaign you must follow the adventure
path, playing episodes in a row. In The Sinking you
can choose the adventure you want to play and even
discard some adventures you dont like or create your
own to play.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Legendary
items are designed to grow in power with the
character. In a way it allows me to remodel some
magic items to grant them additional flexibility.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: It
wasnt my idea. Seriously, the best part of this product
is that its what fans voted for us to make, out of a long
list of potential sequel products. Weve found asking
gamers what they want, and then giving it to them, is
a pretty good product development plan.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
One of the things I wanted to do with Tome of
Monsters was include a significant number of
creatures from real world mythology and legendry
that have been underrepresented or missing entirely
from previous D&D/PFRPG monster collections.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: I love the idea
that you cannot defeat the invading army; youre there
to rescue the ambassador and get the hell out. The
mix of cold, dark overtones, combined with the fiery
battles with cannibalistic, pillaging demon worshipers
really strikes a high-energy chord in me.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Depends on what
youre after, but Id say that currently the
Dreamscarred Press Psionics Unleashed book is near
the top of the heap. Theres always been a small-but-
vocal group of psionics fans, and Dreamscarred has
that subsystem down pat.
8. What specific design choice are
you most happy with, and why?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Doing series books
instead of huge books. Slumbering Tsar would never
have happened as a huge book without doing it as a
series. It would have just been too risky and
expensive. Paizo does huge books better and more
spiffy than we ever could. The real choice in design
was to grab Chuck. He may be the best layout guy in
the business. Our shtick is high quality at a low price,
but you wont see color interiors etc. in our stuff. I am
a total snob about quality product, and I reject more
than I keep. The choice here is to only sell the fans the
best stuff we can make.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: If
something has already been done well, it makes sense
to use it for yourself if at all possible. To that end, one
of my design choices was to utilize some of the great
traps from Necromancer Games' book The Wurst of
Grimtooth's Traps. Adding just the right monsters to
one or two of these traps makes all the difference
between an average encounter and an amazingly fun
encounter.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press: All
our products are designed to be as easy to use as
possible. Recently Ive seen some great products
almost killed by impenetrable or confusing layout. My
key goals are always to reduce prep time and to make
our products as easy to use at the table as possible.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: The
aviary building in the Kingdom Building rules was
definitely my favorite. I always wanted to lead a
charge of eagle-riding troops against a horde of giants
or an armada of pirates. Now with the mass combat
rules and the kingdom development rules we can do
exactly that.
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Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: I think
tying some of the core classes to psionics is probably
the most ingenious part of the book. It allows a
further, seamless implementation of psionics into a
game without having to stick to only the psionic
classes.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design:
Making magic as common as technology is in the
modern day. High magic setting can add some very
unique and very exclusive concepts. It follows the
mindset of in a society where everyone were a gun on
their side, most people are polite because the
repercussions of not being so could be deadly. Now
swap the word magic for gun and you see what we are
getting at.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: The Sinking is an
adventure serial formatted as a TV serial. If you like
shows such as Alias, Fringe, Lost and X-Files then
youll love The Sinking. The serial revolves around a
mysterious event, involving the whole city and each
adventure is more or less tied to that event.
Furthermore, each episode is a one-session stand, and
can be played in a single session.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: The way the
items grow in power with the character, revealing new
abilities and enhancements over time. So many magic
items are just junk after a few levels. In fantasy
literature this never happens. A magic item stays with
a character for a lifetime becoming almost a partner
the character comes to rely on and he or she never
parts with it. (Unless its cursed, of course.)
Legendary Items, as well as its predecessors
Legendary Blades and Legendary Weapons, allows
this to happen in the game. Hopefully that makes a
player emotionally attached to whatever item their
character owns, turning it into more than a tool or a
bonus battery.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: I
tied the mechanics of the new time warden class to the
mechanics of the time thief, without making it exactly
the same. While the time thief is very much a
rogue/ninja type character, the time warden comes
much closer to the ranger or paladin archetype. So
they have a lot of different abilities, but I made sure
they tied in well with what the time thief does, so a
campaign can use both classes as two extremes of
time mastery.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Our decision to go ahead with some of the creatures in
the book, even after finding out that a few of them
were going to be in Bestiary 2. While we dont want a
ton of repeats, we felt our vision, our version of these
creatures was solid. Besides, a GM will now have two
options on some creatures, which helps keep players
on their toes!
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: The decision to
green light it; we were very close to not doing so, but
Ben and Jonathan had such passion for the project
they made it truly special for both me and its patrons.
If I have learned anything, your creators must have a
deep-seated passion for their patronage project, so
much so that it becomes infectious.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: The Midgard
Campaign Setting is a dark fantasy setting based on
Germanic and Slavic myths, and has been my home
campaign of the last 5 years. The projects patrons are
working with me and my co-designers Brandon
Hodge and Jeff Grubb to add elements from their
campaigns to the mix, so its already turning into a
bigger, better and more exciting setting than it would
be if it were just mine.
Im insanely excited about Midgard. I havent done a
whole standalone setting since Dark*Matter, and
theyre always wonderful. This one is especially
exciting because it has grown organically over the
years in response to adventure needs.
9. What was the most challenging
aspect of designing it?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: That I really do not
understand Pathfinder rules. Thank God Chuck and
Greg do. I have no problem telling what makes a good
or great adventure. Play balance is tough for me with
more complex systems.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: It's
tough when dealing with 1st-level characters to keep
things dangerous without getting a PC killed too
quickly. Pathfinder has certainly worked to bulk up
low-level PCs, but, nevertheless, a poor PC fell
halfway through the playtest.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Getting into the head of the GM and challenging
myself to come up with quicker and easier ways to use
products. Quality of play is king, but a very close
second is GM hassle i.e. how much hassle a GM has
to go through to use a product. Our products are easy
to use at the table and simple to prepare. Constantly
keeping that in mind through the design and
development process is challenging.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: A number
of challenges presented themselves during the books
creation. Finding a wide variety of ruler names from
different cultures and time periods, and determining
their relationship to the kingdoms size was an
enjoyable challenge. Coming up with useful and
unique structures and working their significance into
the mass combat system was fun but bogged down the
writing process. But mostly, making spells for the
mass combat system that were balanced while not
able to be exploited for personal combat and slow
game play was particularly difficult to accomplish. In
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the end I feel that we succeeded in each of these
challenges to make an enjoyable reference book.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Making
sure that what we release isnt done by something else
in a different way. Theres a lot of great material out
there, and making sure that you arent just rehashing
what someone else already did is time consuming.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: The
majority of the mechanics were not as much of an
issue because of all the great writers on the project.
Owen KC Stephens of SGG fame wrote up 90% for the
prestige classes we created for the setting. Lee
Hammock and Richard Faresse who both worked on
AEGs Worlds Largest Dungeon worked on
NeoExodus. The mechanics that did worry me was the
ability to do focus on the arena of resolving conflict
without violence but with words. With that we build a
three systems can be used to adjudicate debates of
various types from legal to political to economical.
Simple debates are used for minor confrontations,
"super-simple" debates for easily decided sidetracks,
and complex debates for situations central to the plot
of the campaign. It's up to the GM to decide which is
appropriate for the circumstances. It is something I
am very proud about.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Making a horizontal
campaign is hard so we (the product lead designer
and coordinator Tim Hitchcock and I) decided to
divide the campaign in seasons. Each season has a
level range (say 1-4 for first season) with slightly
scalable adventures. So no matter which Season I
adventure you are playing, it always will work.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Making these
things more than just a bunch of items that grant
extra spell-like abilities, but have an interesting
history and unusual abilities tied to that history.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Time travel rules. Its pretty clear that one of the
things that left people wanting more from the time
thief was how careful we were with time travel. While
Im playtesting some stuff to make sure it doesnt give
GMs migraines, the plan is for the time warden to
have a much wider range of real chronomancy.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Getting all the art! This book has more artwork and
all of it original, no stock art than anything weve
produced so far.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: The maps. The
massive, glorious, sexy, awesome, beautiful, maps;
Jonathan Roberts deserves all the credit for that. If he
was not both the developer and the cartographer, this
project would not have worked at all.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: The idea of
collaborative world design is not new, but the idea of
building a world through adventures has been in
abeyance for a long time. Bringing that approach back
means the designers and patrons have some keystones
to work with; and having the map available from the
start means we arent arguing over topology and
mountain ranges, but rather creating the best sites,
characters, and adventure hooks possible.
The setting is loaded with potential and written in the
style of Hyborea more than Middle Earth (that is,
were focused on the present, not the Maiar and Valar
and elves of millennia gone).
Mostly, though, the most ingenious part of it seems to
be that were doing it for Pathfinder. Everyone loves
Golarion, but its good to have choices. Heck, I was
worried what Paizo would think of my hubris, but
Paizo publisher Erik Mona gave it his blessing. I
mentioned to him that Midgard would be a second
well-supported setting for the Pathfinder RPG and
asked him what he thought of that. Erik said,
Golarion might not be everyones cup of tea. If the
Midgard setting means more people play Pathfinder,
of course Im for it!
Its hard to argue with his reasoning. The Pathfinder
RPG is bigger than Golarion, though Golarion will
always be its first and largest setting.
10. What did you learn about
publishing while working on it?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Hmmwell, I have
been doing this for a long, long time (over 12 years).
The one thing I learned was that when doing it
yourself you are a lot more careful with details. When
I had White Wolf or Kenzer to bail me out, I was a
little less anal retentive about making sure everything
was as perfect as I could get it.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: I
learned that when you want to write something you
can't agonize over its internal formatting before you
even begin. If you do, the piece will take twice as long
to get to the consumer. I'm afraid that as the company
president there's no one to berate me for being late
with an assignment.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Since starting to publish Pathfinder compatible
products Ive learnt a hell of a lot about Word, Adobe
Acrobat and so on. I think, though, the most
important thing Ive learnt is to always keep in mind
how a product will be used at the table.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Putting
out your first product is easy. Putting out multiple
products, on a deadline, while planning for the future,
takes commitment. Sticking to the project when
youve got a dozen other ideas in your head is where
the real test of a publisher comes in.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Theres a
lot more to publishing than I realized. The amount of
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time that goes into the post-production of a book is
astounding, and the quantity of hours spent reviewing
material is mind-blowing.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: Make
sure you build the campaign world you want to play in
and makes you excited to play in. There is nothing
worst then playing is a setting or working on a project
that you are not excited about.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: That the possibilities
are infinite.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: It would be
great if I could draw with any measure of skill.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Excitement breeds complications. I dont mean that as
a bad thing, but it is something I need to allow more
time for. When I wrote The Genius Guide to the Time
Thief, it was just one more product I was doing. The
cover photo took more work, but no one externally
(none of the playtesters, none of our fans) knew what
was coming. But now, I get lots of people sending me
ideas and concerns about the sequel. Thats great, the
more ideas and stronger the review, the better the
final product, but going through it all takes time. Im
glad I didnt promise people theyd have this by
February 15th or something, because getting it right is
taking longer than Id expected.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
You have to stay ahead of the game. Weve gone down
to the deadline on other products, but with Tome of
Monsters, between making sure we had the art, and
making sure all the creatures are well designed and
written, we really had to stay ahead of things.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: That I can have
little-to-nothing to do beyond minor administrative
duties when it comes to a project and our freelancers
can do some amazing work. Patronage has always
taught me that anyone can have an idea that, even if
its not better than your idea, it can be just as valid.
Sometimes its hard not to be a meddling executive;
this shows that I dont have to be.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design:
Its too early to say. Were still bringing the last batch
of patrons on board and choosing our starting blocks.
But if I had to pick from what weve done so far, I
suspect it has to do with the way we treat our empires,
or the way magic is thought of in Midgard. Or maybe
its the magocracy surrounded by hostile lands, or
Okay, so there are a lot of design decisions still to
come. Im looking forward to making them in
collaboration with the crew.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: The most
challenging part of any foundational, world-building
design is focus. It may seem like a big campaign
setting book has tons of room for the designer to talk
about anything, but in fact its one of the most
demanding forms of design to do well (only intro
boxes are harder).
Theres not nearly enough room to describe
everything in detail, so from the very beginning you
have to make tradeoffs. What sections do you give
most attention to? What do you hint at for later
releases? Where do you provide the GM with secrets
and where do you just leave a lot of hints for the GM
to sort out on his own?
The outline has made me very aware of just how
difficult it is to describe an entire world in a mere
100,000 words.
11. Could you give us an exclusive
hint or teaser about an
upcoming product?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Black Monastery
the first product I ever helped produce back in 1979
(layout was wax paper and razor blades). Some of my
earliest gaming memories were playing my PC in this
setting. We are even doing big fold out maps, and its
going to be a hardcover.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: If you
liked Mongoose Publishing's pocket version of the 3.5
rules, you'll love the Tricky Owlbear v3.75 Player's
Chapbook.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Implacable enemies, the ferocious Minotaurs of the
Black Hills and the nomadic Centaurs of the Bleak
Moor wreak bloody slaughter upon each other for
dominance over the Yiths last great stronghold.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: We will
be doing another monster book that will knock
peoples socks off. It covers a topic that I have not
seen done this extensively by anyone.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: While we
try very hard to distance psionics from sci-fi, one of
the upcoming prestige classes in Psionics Expanded is
actually based on a comic book character.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: The
upcoming Pirates of the Bronze Sky is all about
gunpowder pirates and steampulp skyships.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games:
Heres the introductory text from the pilot of The
Sinking, an adventure by Tim Hitchcock:
Over the centuries Azindralea, The Great City, has
witnessed and bore numerous changes that come
with the passage of time. It has survived miracles
and devastation, revolution, and even the threat of
apocalypse. Though still struggling to recover from
recent uprisings that tore apart the throne, the City
has fallen into a quiet peace. Yet there are several
who eerily proclaim this peace shall be short lived.
Among them stand faceless prophets who wander the
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streets hidden beneath shadowed cowls and whose
dark whispers insinuate the genesis of a new era
soon to befall the City. Dubbed fear-mongers, the
Kortezian guard has posted warrants for those who
falsely spread terror and incite the public. They
arrested a handful of these so-called prophets, only
to identify them as the bourgeoisies idle youth in the
midst of performing an elaborate prank. Yet many
believe that behind every seemingly innocuous hoax,
lies deep-rooted conspiracy.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Stefen is
currently working on the second Legendary Races
book that will have information on medusa and half-
medusa player characters.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Sure! Im working on The Genius Guide to Chaos
Magic, which is going to have a chaos mage archetype
any spellcaster can take. It gives you some wild
options, but comes with the risk your magic may get
away from you. Some of it is in playtesting right now,
and getting some rave reviews (though also some
concerns, so Im still working on it!).
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
How about a sneak peek at some art we havent shown
before? The Ziburinis is a type of skeletal undead that
rises from those who die in dark forests. They are
covered in phosphorescent moss. The creature is
based on a Lithuanian mythological creature of the
same name. The art was done by Juan Diego
Dianderas, and even though the art in the book is
going to be black-and-white, JD enjoyed drawing this
creature so much, he threw in a bonus colored version
for us!
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Once Breaking of
Fostor Nagar finishes we will be working on creating
an original RPG game we currently have code named
Amnesia: Quest for Identity.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Yes! We have a lot
coming along, with Streets of Zobeck, Northlands,
and Kobold Quarterly #17 all in production now.
But for a real hint: Midgard is going to offer two
things for patrons that we havent really discussed:
one is the Worldbuilders Handbook, a collection of
practical tips and advice from me, Jeff Grubb, and
Brandon Hodge. The second is that we are splitting up
the project into small sections to release it to patrons
faster. The first of these sections is either the Dragon
Empire or the Seven Cities, and will be released to
patrons this summer!
12.One of the problems with OGL
content is that the best third
party content is not absorbed
into the core product lines, how
would you address this issue
when it comes to the Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: We are portable.
You can use our material in any setting. I dont like to
do things that have to be used in World X. It kills
usability.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: There's
not much to be done, really. As a company, you have
to produce material you think is worthy of the fans,
and the game, and if it gets noticed by Paizo, and they
want to incorporate its ideas into one of their books,
great! If not, no harm done.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
The problem here is the sheer volume of stuff
produced. If Paizo were to run its own version of the
Ennies but limited to only Pathfinder compatible
products it would be a nice prize to see portions of
the winning products absorbed into their core product
lines.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises:
Truthfully, I dont see that as a problem. As a 3rd
party publisher, my job is to provide options. And
thats what we do. While it might not be official or
usable in society play, the only ones that determine if
something is usable in a home game are the GM and
the players. That should be a conversation that
players and GMs should be having about all products,
even those released by Paizo. If a game master feels
that a ninja or a gun wielder is not flavorfully
appropriate for their home game, then they should
feel free to exclude it. That same conversation should
be happening about books available from licensees.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: With as
popular and successful as RPG Superstar has become,
I would think some similar form of public voting
would be a great way to get popular third party
content included. Allow players to submit which
material they think should be submitted, the Paizo
panel selects the finalists, and the fans pick the
winner or winners.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: I
think if the quality is there people will use it and Paizo
has done that with companies like Green Ronin and
Open Design. If you keep doing good work people will
notice and use it.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: This is a tough
question. I ever loved layered games: a game in which
you can raise the level of complexity by adding layers
of rules. It would be good if the next edition of PFRPG
would be transformed in a layered game, or a modular
one, if you prefer. This way a third part, layer or
module of rules could be docked to the core rules by
the user itself. In our electronic age, it would be
simple to design a software tool to put together your
own Player Handbook and download it. This way you
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could build your Basic Pathfinder game or your
Advanced Pathfinder game.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: We would
like to work with other publishers to share ideas and
blend content so that we are not constantly
reinventing the wheel or treading on well-developed
ground. I dont think of material as core or non-core. I
tend to use what works for my games.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: I
put forward an idea of a supplement released by Paizo
that would collect the best content from the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible products
out there and then see it approved for Pathfinder
Society play
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
I think Paizo is already on the right track. They are
doing things that WotC never did with the OGL
license in the way they promote and encourage the
3PP (third party product). Their store blog posts
certainly help raise awareness of our products. That
said, it would be nice to see a Paizo product released
that references a creature, or spell, or item, or class
from one of us 3PP.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: This is a huge
issue with me. Often designers have too much ego-
involved thinking; they always look to make a better
mousetrap. Why would I ever want to create a set of
rules for psionics beyond what Dreamscarred Press
has done? They have been doing it longer than any
publisher, they have done the playtesting, they have
the experience, and they have done all the hard work.
Yet what will frustrate me is that eventually Paizo will
decide to do its own psionics book with an original
design, which will have all the excellence Paizo is
known for, but it will lack the passion for psionics that
Dreamscarred Press has, lack their depth of
experience with psionics, and will also make the
support Dreamscarred Press created obsolete. What I
would hope for is that those designers can put their
egos aside and play with Dreamscarred Presss rules
before they decide to create the Paizo official psionic
rules. Open source software developers do this all day
long because good design is good design, its
originality is not a concern; you should be more
concerned with giving your customers the best of all
possible designs.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Im not sure I
consider it a large problem. Much of the third party
content is focused at particular needs or niches, like
adventures or equipment. Most of that doesnt need to
be part of the core rules any more than Golarion
splatbooks need to be part of the core rules.
13.Owen K. C. Stephens has put
forward an idea of a
supplement released by Paizo
that would collect the best
content from the Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game compatible
products out there and then see
it approved for Pathfinder
Society play. Would you
support something like this,
allowing them to reference you
product beyond the stand of the
OGL?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: [Paraphrased] If it
was like Monte Cooks The Years Best d20 I could get
behind that.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing:
Absolutely.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Yes, I think it is a great idea!
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: I think it
is a great idea. It provides greater exposure for all 3rd
party companies and provides Pathfinder Society
players with a greater breadth of available material.
Its a win-win for all involved.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Would you
be willing to put financial support behind such a
product? Although we have a small budget as a part-
time publisher, I think wed be willing to put in some
financial support.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: I
think it is a great idea.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: I like the idea of the
book, but dont like the idea of Paizo choosing which
supplement it is worth to add to this book. Bear with
me, I like the Paizo folks and I think they would
choose very wisely, but I think it would be against the
idea of OGL. It would be nice, as I said above, if it
could be the end-user himself to pick which ruleset to
use in his own game. I would like much a repository of
OGL text, organized and well maintained, from which
to draw rules, monsters and other OGL material. It
would be a very useful tool for both publishers and
gamers. The book could still be done, but I see it more
like a Guide, or an index for the OGL products of this
year.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Absolutely!
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Er
Okay, fair enough. Id be happy to jump through
whatever hoops, and allow whatever level of reference
and accessing, Paizo wanted to support such a
product. I know how busy they are and I understand
the massive extra effort this would involve, but I still
think it would be a great way to bring new ideas into
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the organized play, and introduce some fans to the
best 3pp.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
I think thats a great idea! While the vast majority of
our products have been fully Open, I would be more
than willing to allow some of our product identity
material into such a Paizo product if they were
interested in it.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Making great 3rd
party products into official Pathfinder material is
smoothing I support 100%, no matter if it is mine or if
it is my most beloved rivals.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Its pure
speculation on my part, but I think youll be surprised
by some of what Paizo might pick up in Ultimate
Magic or Bestiary 3.
I would certainly support this, given that Open Design
releases are well-reviewed and loved by fans. Id put
forward material from Advanced Feats, Tales of the
Old Margreve, or Sunken Empires for a project like
that.
14.Would you be willing to put
financial support behind such a
product?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: If it made sense, of
course.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: I'm not
sure such a thing would be necessary given the
hypothesis that Paizo would be doing the work and
thus reaping the appropriate financial rewards.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Im not sure why such a product would require
financial support. If publishers provide the required
material along with any graphics essentially for free,
and the product was a PDF release, there wouldnt be
much requirement for financial support beyond
perhaps commissioning an awesome cover and such
like. That said, Im very keen to support the industry
it has, after all, been very good to me so if there
were a compelling reason to provide financial support,
I would do so.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Id have
to discuss it more before giving a firm answer, but I
am certainly open to the idea.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Although
we have a small budget as a part-time publisher, I
think wed be willing to put in some financial support.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: I
would do that. Personally I would like it to be a fund
raiser for some non- or not for profit organization like
the Red Cross.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Keeping in mind
what I said before, yes, if it is a reasonable expense.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: We would be
willing to support such a venture as much as we are
able to.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Within limits, sure! But that would only be fair if there
was a financial upside if it proved popular.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Quite possibly I would.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: I would, because
I think you first have to prove to Paizo that this is
profitable. Once Paizo has reaped the rewards, then
there would not be a need to support it a second time;
but I am willing to help with paying for artwork if my
piece was accepted, along with paying an
editor/developer to put it all together.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Not unless Paizo
were sharing the profits, no. The smaller companies
like Open Design should probably not be funding
Paizo releases Theyre the big boys; they can take
care of themselves.
15.Is there something additional
that Paizo could reasonably do
to support third party
publishers?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: They are awesome.
The forums work, they plug us. They help sell our
books. No one does that, except Paizo. (Well, I do).
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Paizo
has done and continues to do an amazing job
interacting with everyone on their site, publishers
included. They highlight new Pathfinder-compatible
products and thereby encourage their fans to buy
them. I'm not sure what more a 3PP could want in
terms of exposure. Beyond that, I suppose Paizo could
officially review one product a month from a 3PP in
its store blog.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises:
Truthfully, I dont know. From my perspective, Paizo
has been better than any other primary publisher with
a free and open license with support to their licensees.
They have gone above and beyond my expectations
already. I dont know what else they could do.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press: I
would love to see a developers download of the
various hardback books in an easy to manipulate
format. Having a developers forum where 3pps can
interact with the Paizo chappies would also be useful.
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Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design:My
dream would be to open up Pathfinder Society that
third party publisher can make products and
adventures for that. The RPGA did it with a few
companies like Paradigm Concepts and it worked out
very well for both of them.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: I think Paizo does a
great job, they put forward quality and doing so they
become a paragon point for other companies. They
still provide great support for publishers selling on
their website. Maybe they could offer a little more
visibility for 3rd party Pathfinder products.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: I would like
to exist in the eyes of the Paizo crew. Since Purple
Duck Games is not on the Paizo store right now, when
they promote 3pp we are never mentioned. It would
be nice to be recognized as a 3PP who is supporting
the system. Ultimately though, it is Purple Duck
Games that owes Paizo a debt for letting us play in
their sandbox.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: Id
like to see some better controls and interface, for both
customers and buyers, on the web store.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Honestly, I dont know. Like I mentioned earlier, they
do a darn good job of promoting us as it is. Ive been
pretty happy with how 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming been
supported.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: The only other
thing I could even think of beyond this is for Paizoian
staff and freelancers to mention in the Paizo blog (not
the store blog) if they are making use of a third party
product in their own home game. Sometimes you do
not need official recognition, sometimes a wink and a
nudge or a pat on the back is worth so much more.
16.What would you say to
freelance designers wanting to
work for your company?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: I would say 75% of
our work is done by freelancers. I reject about 75% of
what arrives too. Be neat, be clean, use good
grammar, provide innovative story, and take criticism
well. Be patient, sometimes it takes nine months after
a manuscript is done to get a book to press.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: A
professionally written query letter goes a long way to
getting your foot in the door. We have taken a chance
with new authors who sent us professional query
letters and every one of those experiences has been
exceptional.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Pitch
me an idea. Tricky Owlbear is here to produce fun and
balanced products so if you're excited by your idea,
and have a firm grasp of the rules, we can work
together.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Email me! (Id add that it would be cool if you knew
the kind of stuff I publish before bombarding me with
submissions Raging Swan produces quite specific
types of products and that I dont care whether you
have been published before as long as you are keen
and reliable.)
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Know the
rules and be creative. Those are two of the biggest
factors for us. But above all that, youve got to like
psionics.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: You
dont have to be crazy to work here but it helps. The
two best things I can tell freelance is be good at game
mechanics and consistent turning work in on time.
That will guarantee you a job with us.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Be reliable,
imaginative and respect deadlines.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Send us a
query. The worst we can do is say no.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Take a look at what weve done. Be familiar with our
lines of PDFs. Then, send me a proposal!
[email protected].
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Be professional when you first contact us! Even if you
know me, or Connie, or one of our existing
freelancers, dont assume thats an automatic in. Treat
it the same as you would treat a face-to-face job
interview. Once youre in, if we like your stuff and
offer you work, future pitches can be much more
casual.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Fail better.
Submit, get rejected, submit again, and get rejected
again until someone give s you some feedback. Use
that feedback; fail better the next time. Submit to any
place that will accept an unsolicited submission, from
Kobold Quarterly to Pathfinder Society Scenarios.
Join a patronage project and be active; if you are
writing, and suggestions are good, you will get
noticed. Join RPG Superstar, but do not stop when
you lose, keep submitting and failing better. Fail
better is the best advice I was ever given, so I am
passing it on to you. Wolfgang has accepted a pitch
from me for Kobold Quarterly and then rejected the
article when it was done; you have to keep going.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Submit a query to
Kobold Quarterly (guidelines are online) or sign up as
a patron for an Open Design project like the Midgard
Campaign Setting. Midgard in particular is going to be
the foundation for a lot of releases going forward. It
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never hurts to be there at the start, and know the lore
behind a particular setting or the reasoning behind
rules design. Or follow the project on Facebook.
Adam Daigle and Brandon Hodge both got their
breaks in the industry from Open Design, and now
they are regular Paizo freelancers. Its a great way to
break in, or to sharpen up your design skills for your
own game.
17. What is the biggest obstacle right now for
creating a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
compatible product?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Paying the printer.
Really coming up with the money to fund projects.
Frequently this is the Bank of Bill. The other part is
knowing how many to make. Too few, you hurt
yourself, too many, you go broke.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Anyone
can abide by the OGL and Pathfinder's guidelines of
use and write a product. It's that easy to make a
product. In my opinion, the biggest obstacle would be
the technical aspect of creating a PDF itself. I'm
mostly thumbs when it comes to computers, which is
why I'm the creative end of the company.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
There arent many. I guess the biggest obstacles to
creating Pathfinder compatible content are time and
money. It takes a long time to write decent Pathfinder
content and the costs in quality artwork and editing
can make the whole process expensive (particularly
when you have yet to sell anything).
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Time. I
dont have the time available to do all the ideas on my
drawing board. The only way I could do more is to
quit the day job.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Making
sure someone else hasnt already done it well and
standing out amongst the competition.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design:
Finding good reliable, reasonably priced artists to do
the highest quality of full color work. Artwork is the
expensive part of this business.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Cant see one.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Paizo has
graciously allowed everyone to play with their toys.
The only real obstacles are our imaginations and lack
of free time.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Time. I have lots of ideas, and lots of fans, but writing
things just takes time. When a product line does well,
fans reasonable want it to be supported. But with a
PDF every week, a Dungeon-A-Day room five days a
week, products being written for other companies, a
line of print products in the works (hopefully), and
keeping up with our fans, SGG is at a production
pipeline maximum. Its a great problem to have (our
stuff is too popular!), but it does cut down on how
many new things we can look at until we digest our
current schedule, or grow into something bigger.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Time and money. Its just Connie and me and even
though Im doing this full time now, Connie still has a
day job plus her weekly gig with Geeks Dream Girl, so
time is a huge factor. Money is the other one. Were
almost to the companys second anniversary, and
weve always paid our contributors on time, but
sometimes its tight.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: For a new
publisher its carving out your own niche; for me its
Super Genius Games. Every time I turn around I see
what they are doing and am stunned by how cool that
idea is and wonder why I didnt think of that.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: The main
obstacles to creating product are the usual: talent,
time and money. Beyond that, once youve created it,
its easier than ever to put it on the web. Whether
anyone pays attention depends on the quality of the
work. And, of course, whether or not you advertised it
in Kobold Quarterly.
Okay, truly shameless plug. But seriously, one of the
hardest parts of publishing is standing out from the
crowd. There are a lot of me-too books and a lot of
pretty shoddy PDFs, as any gamer knows. Making
something really sharp is harder than just writing it
and playtesting it.
So Creating something is easy. Creating something
great has always been hard, in any creative endeavor.
18.What is one piece of advice
would you give to a would-be-
publisher?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Do not expect to
make much (or any) money. You might, but you might
not. If you do this because you love doing it, then
great. If not, dont.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Know
your OGL. Seriously, one misstep can put all 3PPs in a
bad light when word leaks out about a product not
abiding by the proper rules. I don't want to sound too
negative so I'll also throw in the advice to "have fun!"
and release products that you love and not necessarily
what you think others will like.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Write what you like. Dont get into this business for
money; get into it for the joy of creating and sharing
cool ideas. Id also advise you not to plan too much
view the first six months as a dry run. When I started
Raging Swan Press I started it with certain
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perceptions about what would sell, most of which got
overturned in the first six months!
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: Read up.
There are several good sources currently available on
running a publishing company. They cover everything
from whether you should be a publisher, to how to
write a contract for a freelancer, to cash flow
expectations of being a regular publisher. I would
start with 12 to Midnights e-Publishing Secrets (its
free), Adamants ePublishing 101, and Mongoose
Publishings I Am Mongoose and So Can You. These
are invaluable sources that give you straight answers
to many questions you probably do not realize you
have yet.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: Be patient,
dont rush a product to release, and every little bit of
extra polish you put on a book is well worth the extra
time. Dont make that mistake that first impression
is something you cant get back.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design:
There are two sides to this business, the creative and
the business side. Make sure you are as serious at one
side as you are with the other. Its a fun job, but it is
still a job.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Perseverate. Look at
the quality of your products and always put forward
your ideas. You will have success only in things you
believe in.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Dont become
a publisher if you want to be a writer.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games:
Decide what you want. If its to publish as a hobby, be
satisfied when you see it done. If its to be a business,
treat it like a business. If its a little of each, consider
getting a publisher that already exists to pay you for
your product, which wont get you rich, but also cant
bankrupt you.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Expect to do ten times the amount of work you think
youll have to do. There are days when I spend 12
hours doing nothing but answering and writing e-
mails. Its not the glamorous life!
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: You spend two
years building your campaign setting and are now
ready to publish it. You should now spend two years
planning your business model. That is an
exaggeration, but it is the right sentiment. You need to
treat publishing like a business, be as professional a
publisher as you are a designer.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Be sure that you
want to be a publisher. Its a much more business-
oriented role than the game-oriented work that
designers, editors, and others do. If you mostly want
to publish your own work, youre much better off
submitting it to a small press, and convincing them do
the work of editing, illustrating, and selling it.
19.Where do you see the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
along with third party support
in 2020?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: Once 4th edition
dies its slow death, Pathfinder will rule the RPG
world. Third parties will support it because Paizo will
support us.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: Alive
and well. Paizo isn't releasing rules-heavy books at the
same rate as Wizards of the Coast did in the 3.x days
which is great for long-term game sustainability. Still,
9 years is a long time, so we'll see what happens. In
any case, I think most 3PPs active now will remain so
no matter what system they're catering to.
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press: I
would have thought wed be into second edition
territory by 2020 so it would be difficult to predict
how the game will develop. I think, though, with
Paizos ethos of first-class customer support and
products, Pathfinder would be going strong and would
have a much enhanced market share. Given that Paizo
is run by gamers for gamers I foresee a very rosy
future for third party publishers.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: I hope
well be celebrating the release of Pathfinder 2nd
edition. The game, having long since been established
as the market leader, is now becoming a household
name and is widely considered the gateway game of
choice for new gamers. There is a statue made out of
d20s of the Paizo Golem in downtown Seattle and it is
considered the top tourist attraction of the city. Third
party support is alive and well with Jon Brazer
Enterprises releasing an expansion available via the
world thought web as well as the Mars Data Stream.
And the Pathfinder game is circulated worldwide as a
way to bring peoples of different nations together in
peace. Hey I can dream, right?
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: I think it
will have evolved, as so much else in the Open Gaming
community has done, finding new innovations and
streamlining rules to be more straightforward.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: Still
going strong but that really depends on getting new
players to the game table. That is something we all
need to focus on.
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Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: Difficult to see.
Always in motion is the future. One thing is certain:
if third party publishers and Paizo do not cooperate to
bring unity to the game, the same thing will happen
that happened with 3.5. Wizards went on their own
way, and 3pp on their own, and the game broke apart.
Without cooperation and synergy, the game would
die.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: Stefen
2020? By then I expect to download RPGs directly
into my brain, and Im sure Pathfinder will be one of
them. If you mean 2011 to 2012, I can say one thing
for certain. At my FLGS (Dream Wizards) Pathfinder
books take up as much space as 4e books. That says a
lot about how many people play Pathfinder. Theres a
large audience for Pathfinder and third-party
material. The future looks good for the game and third
parties.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: I
think the edition wars between fans of D&D 6th ed.,
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game 2.0, and Psionic Wombat Fantasy
Games (revised) will fracture the 3pp support market,
and only companies who can produce for the iTable
environment will really make a profit.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
Nine years from now? I wouldnt be surprised to see a
second edition of the game by that time. That doesnt
mean I think it needs one now, but all games evolve
over time and I would be more surprised to not see
one by 2020; 3PP support will still be there, too. The
boom-and-bust of OGL 3PP in the 1990s was a
different era. Were now in the era of more PDFs, the
Kindle, the iPad, etc. Thats going to allow more 3PP
to continue and to flourish.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Moving more and
more to online content, with iPads being used at the
table rather than books; already as a GM I never open
a book at the table. Everything I do is done by laptop
and the monitor makes a better GM screen anyway. It
is why I embraced the virtual tabletop with Breaking
of Fostor Nagar.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: Sorry, my crystal
ball is on the fritz! I honestly have no idea. The OGL
will still be there so long as people are gaming, and I
expect someone will be doing third-party support.
Bold predictions, I know.
It wouldnt surprise me if the Midgard campaign
setting were looking at a 2nd edition by then.
20. Is there anything else that
folks should know about you
and/or your company?
Bill Webb, Frog God Games: We want feedback.
Ping us, hit the forums, let us know what you want
more of and less of. We listen.
Bret Boyd, Tricky Owlbear Publishing: As
mentioned above, if you have an idea for a product (or
have a comment/critique/question about a past
product), feel free to contact Tricky Owlbear. I'll
admit that our website isn't the poster-child of
company websites but I'm always scanning the 3PP
forum at Paizo's messageboards so if you shout there
I'll see you. We've also got a Facebook page or you can
simply email me: [email protected].
Creighton Broadhurst, Raging Swan Press:
Raging Swan Press has decided to make its Free PDF
promotion a permanent part of its offering. In short, if
you buy a physical copy of one of our products you can
claim free PDFs up to the value of that book. You
dont have to get a PDF of the product you purchased,
you can get a free PDF or PDFs of any of our products.
You can learn more at ragingswan.com/freepdfs.
Dale McCoy, Jon Brazer Enterprises: This is
without a doubt the greatest job I have ever had. I love
doing this and I am trilled that as many people enjoy
using our material as much as we enjoy creating it.
Jeremy Smith, Dreamscarred Press: We love
psionics and think everyone should give it a shot (or
another shot). Its come a long way over the years and
dont think the current version should be judged by
the pitfalls of previous versions.
Louis Porter Jr., Louis Porter Jr. Design: As
much as I love the fun gaming side of this business, I
also love the actual business side of this business
too. Maybe even more than the gaming side.
Mario Barbati, 0 00 0one games: We celebrated more
than ten years of activity with more than 300 products
available, we are driven by a love of games and we will
always offer the best quality we can.
Mark Gedak, Purple Duck Games: We love to
hear criticism, suggestions, complaints, and yes, even
compliments about our stuff. We try to respond to our
audience as best we can. If anyone has ideas about
how we can improve, what we could have done
differently or what they think we did right, they
should feel free to let us know.
Owen K.C. Stephens, Super Genius Games: We
also produce a mega-dungeon begun by Monte Cook!
Its Dungeon-A-Day, a subscription dungeon website.
We produce a new encounter every weekday of every
week and have forums where you can interact with the
designer. Its designed for 3.5 right now, but thats
very close to Pathfinder (a lot of our subscribers are
Pathfinder GMs), and were adding Pathfinder notes
as we go along.
You can take a look at it (and a preview) at
DungeonaDay.com.
Robert Thomson, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming:
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While we love the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and
its been our bread-and-butter so far, were more than
a one trick pony. Coming up in April is our first
product for the new edition of Green Ronins Mutants
& Masterminds RPG and coming in August is our first
original game system, Exploding Aces.
Steve Russell, Rite Publishing: Just how
thankful I am that all of the publishers I contacted
responded. Proving that regardless of our differences
in style, strategy, and attitudes, this community works
together to bring you some amazing content.
Wolfgang Baur, Open Design: We do a free
monthly newsletter called the Kobold Courier that
covers upcoming projects and free stuff and new
releases. You can get it by signing up at the KQ blog
(box on the left), and I would encourage you to do so.
Generally speaking, the doors open, so come on in!
Were always looking for a great Pathfinder articles for
the KQ blog, or for a query for the magazine, or a
playtester for an adventure. Why not sign up as a
project patron, and come rub elbows with me, Richard
Pett, Brandon Hodge, Chris Pramas, Jeff Grubb, and
other Open Design contributors? Wed love to hear
your ideas!
P PP Pu uu ub bb bl ll li ii is ss sh hh he ee er rr r s ss s N NN No oo ot tt te ee e: :: :
I want to personally thank all the contributors, and
apologize to the ones who got left out or that we could
not fit in today.
-Steve Russell, Rite Publishing
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Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
51
Top 10 of 2010
By Thilo Endzeitgeist Graf
This is my top ten PFRPG-compatible products I got
in 2010. It is my list and takes my individual tastes
into account, i.e. there may be some 4-star-files herein
that I personally enjoyed more than some 5-star files.
That being said, I hope you'll enjoy my little
countdown.
10. Book of Beasts: Monsters
of the River Kingdoms by
Jon Brazer Enterprises
This is a great little monster book
that is both thematically linked.
Best of all, almost all the
monsters and NPCs are written
in a way that actually makes your
job as a DM easier - they are
almost guaranteed to inspire
some nice adventures.
9. Fey Folio: Clans of the Fey
Realms by Alluria Publishing
I'm a sucker for fey and this little
bestiary, while not cheap, still
does them right. My review of
this book will follow soon, just let
it be said that the artwork is
stunning, the writing evocative
and that fey just rock. ;)
8. Evocative City Sites:
Clockwork Tower by Rite
Publishing
It's not a secret that I really like
the ECS-series, but this one
actually surpassed my expect-
ations; While I love time-
travel/chronomancy-stories, most
of the time they are simply done
wrong. This little product not
only gets it rite, it does so within the constraints of a
small pdf release for 3 bucks AND provides some
beautiful maps. Some of the other ECS-installments
are also great, but this one just struck a chord with
me.
7. The Great City: Urban
Creatures & Lairs by
0onegames
I love the Great City and its
unique brand of politics,
revolutions and critters. This
massive book contains several
creatures I really loved and their
lairs take the one thing I don't
like about DMing from me,
drawing maps. I suck at drawing maps. Hard. These
critters are cool and the Werecabbages did some
awesome stuff here. If you don't yet own the Ennie-
award winning Player's Guide of 2009, go check it out,
too.
6. Time Thief by Super
Genius Games
I freely admit to having a
nostalgic stake in this one: The
original Prince of Persia game
was one of my first games ever
and the original Sands of Time
trilogy, especially the Howard-
esk, gritty second and third
installments rank among my favorite games of the last
10 years. This pdf actually makes it possible to play a
character class like that without breaking game
balance or resorting to awkward mechanics. Genius,
indeed!
5. Sunken Empires by Open
Design
While in no way perfect (see my
review), this book still has some
passages that are pure, creative
gold and inspired me to
implement them immediately.
best of all, it made me come up
with a plethora of great
campaign ideas. Not adventure, but campaign ideas.
'Nuff said.
4. Advanced Arcana Volume I
by Necromancers
of the Northwest
Once in a while, a pdf comes your
way that somehow challenges
how you think about a kind of
book. Usually, I'm not too keen
on reviewing books about spells
etc. The way in which Vancian
casting is expanded upon in this book actually had me
yelling with excitement: "Hell yeah, why has that not
been done before?" This is creative, mechanically
innovative and features a nice frame narrative. If you
haven't yet, check this out - it rocks!
3. Incantations in Theory
and Practice by Zombie Sky
Press
For 2 bucks you get mechanics
that bring back the wonder and
awe of magic, make magic
accessible for non-spellcasters, enable you to use the
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52
machanics for ritual-magic, to tell grudge stories
etc.pp. This little pdf has done so much good for my
game, it's hard to imagine a better money-value-ratio.
Incantations belong to the coolest concepts out there
and take the predictability back out of magic. Highly
recommended to just about anyone.
2. Retribution by Raging Swan Press
Quite frankly the best level 1 adventure I've read for
PFRPG so far, this adventure has it all: Dungeon,
Wilderness, Mystery, a villain that actually has a
motivation that can be understood, encounters
(including the final showdown!) that can be solved via
Diplomacy and a kind of pseudo skill-challenge. It
also has psychological depth to both motivations, plot
and NPCs and an unobtrusive, yet pervasive
symbolism that enhances the awesome atmosphere.
Give this a chance, it's old-school and complex and
ranks among the most intelligent adventures I've read
in quite some time.
Honorable Mention: Honorable Mention: Honorable Mention: Honorable Mention:
-Slumbering Tsar Saga by Frog God Games
Already one of my favorite adventures ever, once this
huge book finally comes out, it will rank among the
most epic and iconic yarns in gaming. I debated on
whether to include the chapters of the subscription in
the list and decided against it, as I'd rather wait for
the epic hardcover to come out in 2011.
1.Coliseum Morpheuon by Rite Publishing
To everyone who knows me, this should come as no
surprise: I love the plain of dreams. I love high-level
play (which Paizo unfortunately somehow neglects). I
love complex stat-blocks. I love beautiful artwork. I
love sand-boxy settings and adventures. I love
creative, imaginative, far-out designs. I love epic tests
and shades of grey moral issues. I love replay value.
This book has it all. Coliseum Morpheuon stands as a
prime example of the wonder I associate with RPGs,
with the sheer awe that goes far beyond anything
known from the staple of fantasy literature while
using its canon. It is, quite frankly, what high-level
fantasy CAN be if it is done right as opposed to the
bland continuation of mid-level tropes so commonly
found among other adventures, no matter what
edition or game you look at. The sheer wealth of
information here is enough to make this not only a
viable option for an adventure, but rather a choice for
a mini-setting that can easily tie in with your regular
campaign. This book is my favorite publication of
2010 and will be very hard to beat in 2011 as it simply
has set a new standard of what I'll be expecting from
high-level adventures/settings.
Publishers Note: Thilo Endzeitgeist Graf and
Dark Mistress are independent reviewers, who
generated this list at our request; we avoided all edits
of this list save those made for grammar. Cover
Images are the trademark and copyright of the
prospective company, and are used here for
promotional purposes only.
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Top 10 of 2010
By Dark Mistress
10. The Genius Guide to the
Time Thief An inventive new
base class based on the movie
Prince of Persia. One of the best
3pp classes for Pathfinder and
the most inventive new class.
9. The Genius Guide to:
Exalted Domains
Technically this is three books,
but they all cover the same thing
so I am combining them for this
rating. Giving clerics the option
to lose a domain to focus on just
one, taking more powerful
options for the single domain
they do get. It is well written and
makes it very tempting to choose a single domain. A
nice option for clerics.
8. #30 Unique Magical
Blades A book of magic
weapons that are more than just
a bonus to hit and damage, they
have a history and some unique
ability that sets them apart. I
wish all magic items where done
like this. It puts a bit of the
wonder back into magic items.
7. Krazy Kragnar's Alchemical
Surplus Shop If you ever
wanted to add more alchemist
items to your Pathfinder game this
is the product for you. A nice
collection of clever, useful, and
interesting alchemy items.
6. The Genius Guide to Rune
Staves and Wyrd Wands
Finally wands, staves and rods
that actually affect the casters
spells. Making them more than
just a rechargeable resource
battery. What wands, staves, and
rods should have been from the
beginning.
5. Coliseum Morpheuon
Need something to challenge and
surprise your high-level
characters with? Well how about
a new pocket plane in the
dreaming. Complete mini setting
and high-level adventure. Hands
down the best high-level product
of the year.
4. Tales of the Old Margreve
A book about a dark and
forbidding forest. Perhaps the
best setting book of the year.
Inspired by Grimm Tales and
Slavic folk lore, this product
brings the dark and twisted
aspects to life in this product.
3. Secrets of Divine
Channeling Gives some new
feats and such for clerics. But
where it really shines is the new
effects to domains and
channeling. Based on your
domains chosen from your good
it affects how your channeling
looks and some side effects of
using it. It truly makes clerics of
different gods stand apart. With this book clerics of
different gods are more different than ever, which is a
good thing.
2. Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting A new
campaign-setting book for running games under-
water. This is honestly the best book I have seen for a
RPG book for running games underwater. It covers
everything you need to run a game and does it with style.
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1. Luven Lightfinger's Gear & Treasure Shop
Fan of and a 10ft Pole or Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog? Well then this is the book for you. Easily the
best equipment book for Pathfinder to date and one of the all time best equipment books for a RPG.
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
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15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 20002005, Wizards of the
Coast, Inc. d20 System Reference Document Copyright
2000-2005, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; authors Jonathan Tweet,
Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David
Noonan, Rich Redman, and Bruce R. Cordell, based on original
material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing,
LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet,
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The Book of Experimental Might. Copyright 2008, Monte J. Cook. All
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Tome of Horrors. Copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.;
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TSR.
Advanced Players Guide. Copyright 2010, Paizo Publishing, LLC;
Author: Jason Bulmahn.
Pathways #1 Copyright 2011 Steven D. Russell;
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73
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CHEATOHES,
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HlDEOOS
EASTS TO
PLAYALE
HACES !
ANGELS,
THOLLS,
DEMONS,
DEVlLS ANo
MOHE!
Bob Dane (order #3985915) 86.140.141.73