The Year of the Risen Rune Launches at Gen Con

Monday, July 30, 2012

Illustrations by Miguel Harkness and Jason Rainville

As players and GMs familiar with the Pathfinder Society Organized Play program surely know after four full seasons of adventure, each year a new season of the campaign launches at Gen Con, and this year is no different. Over the last few seasons, we’ve worked to increase the amount of continuity within the campaign such that each season has a clear theme and plot arc, and so that participants in the campaign will be able to see the effects of their actions as the campaign evolves over several years. I think Season 4, which we’re calling the Year of the Risen Rune, will be the best season yet!

The Year of the Risen Rune will take the focus of the campaign to Varisia, land of ancient ruins, powerful magic, and political forces competing for control of the largely untamed frontier region. We’ll visit such classic Pathfinder locations as Korvosa, Riddleport, Magnimar, and Kaer Maga, as well as places no published adventure has yet trod, including the dwarf city of Janderhoff, the orc outcast city of Urglin, and unplumbed Thassilonian ruins that have never been mentioned before. The Pathfinder Society will truly be exploring uncharted territory.

The season will also see the return of several ongoing villains, including the rogue Shadow Lodge dissidents who threatened the entire society 2 years ago (and who were first encountered in Kaer Maga), the Aspis Consortium, and several yet-to-be-revealed blasts from the campaign’s past. There will also be new foes making life tough for Pathfinders, including the cult of Lissala—forgotten goddess of runes, fate, and obedience—whose gift of rune magic to Thassilon’s founder paved the way for the evil runelords to wrest control of the ancient empire. The Year of the Risen Rune will culminate in a confrontation with the campaign’s most dangerous and powerful threat yet, though who or what that force of malevolence is will have to wait for a reveal later in the season.

We’ll be debuting the season with four brand-new scenarios at Gen Con, written by fan-favorite authors Matt Goodall, Mike Shel, Larry Wilhelm, and Dennis Baker. Whether it’s Rise of the Goblin Guild, which pits the Pathfinders against the Pathfinder campaign setting’s most beloved little psychopaths, or In Wrath’s Shadow, in which the PCs will explore an ancient ruin at the foot of Hollow Mountain, seat of power of the Runelord of Wrath, there’ll be no shortage of potential adventure for players at Gen Con.

And for over 500 participants in the annual Pathfinder Society Special on Friday night, the 75-table event Race for the Runecarved Key, Tim Hitchcock and Kyle Baird will pit teams against one another to qualify for an exclusive second part of the event on Saturday night.

Check out a few pieces of art from these forthcoming scenarios to hold you over for another two and a half weeks, and we’ll see you with your dice and minis in hand on Thursday, August 16 at Gen Con Indy!

Mark Moreland
Developer

Beginner Box Sneak Preview

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Learning to play the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is about to get easier than ever before, as in just a few short weeks the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box hits the shelves of a game store near you! With the imminent release of this mighty boxed set—filled to bursting with easy-to-master rules, multiple adventures, creature tokens, dice, a Flip-Mat play surface, pregenerated character sheets, tons of tools to start building your own campaign, and much, much more—here's the first of several previews to whet your appetite for innovative new ways to tell the stories you've always wanted to tell and bring the adventure of tabletop roleplaying to whole new audiences.

To start things off, check out a few pages from the Bestiary chapter of the new Game Master's Guide, or one of the four pregenerated character sheets included in the set, this one detailing everything you'll need to play the dauntless cleric Kyra.

Game Master's Guide Bestiary Preview: From the heart of the Beginner Box's 94-page Game Master's Guide, here are eight fearsome and familiar foes, exhibiting just a hint of their streamlined rules, and proving that easy to use doesn't mean any less deadly. Download the PDF preview (1.6 MB zip/pdf)

Cleric Pregenerated Character Sheet Preview: What good is a pregenerated character if you don't know how to use it? Check out a complete Beginner Box pregenerated character sheet, designed to not only allow players to dive into the action immediately, but also explain each key ability and character feature at a glance, making sure players are spending their time adventuring, not looking up rules. This sample sheet is only one of four included in the Beginner Box. Download the PDF preview (1.8 MB zip/pdf)

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box releases this October, but be sure to check back right here in the coming weeks for more details, discussions, and exciting revelations about the newest and most exciting way to learn and play the Pathfinder RPG!

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

Sneak Peek: Classic Monsters Revisited

Friday, March 14, 2008

Get a quick glimpse of Paizo's reimagining of some of your favorite monsters featured in Classic Monsters Revisited. Goblins and trolls and ogres, oh my!

Carolyn Mull
Pazio Sales & Marketing Assistant