Everyone in the fishing town of Ilsurian is excited when the legendary Umbra Carnival rolls into town—even if the show is run by members of the much-maligned Varisian ethnic group. With strange and exotic beasts, scandalous performances, games of chance, and all the other fun of a traveling fair, who could resist such an opportunity for entertainment?
A rare breed of wolf has apparently been staging daring attacks on citizens of Rendrick. A group of hunters seek to claim bounty on the beast, but as the PCs quickly learn, the wolf isn't all it appears. Something sinister lurks in the woods near town, and the PCs must act quickly to save innocent lives. Pgs. 16-26
The Wells of Darkness is the seventy-third layer of the Infinite Planes of the Abyss, a prison used by demon lords and a graveyard for creatures the multiverse would rather forget. Imprisoned in one of these wells is Shami-Amourae, the Lady of Delights. This minor demon lord and former consort of Demogorgon is one of the few beings who knows the true secrets of Demogorgon's twin personalities and his plot to reconcile them, thereby growing immeasurably in power. "Wells of Darkness" is the tenth chapter in the Savage Tides Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures appearing in Dungeon magazine. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon magazine's "Savage Tidings" articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand on the campaign. Issue #357 of Dragon magazine features rules for three new binder vestiges connected to the imprisoned demons within the Wells of Darkness. The Prince of Demons hides a secret, one that could well be the key to stopping the savage tide. Yet the only one who knows this secret is imprisoned on one of the most notorious realms in the Abyss. Will the price for rescuing her be too high? Pgs. 52-84
A handful of would-be adventurers gathers to explore an ancient tomb, eager to trade their discoveries for a ticket to a better life. What they find within presages the advent of the Age of Worms, an era of darkness, decay, and writhing doom. "The Whispering Cairn" is the first installment of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures, several "Backdrop" articles to help Dungeon masters run the series, and a handful of poster maps of key locations. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon's monthly "Worm Food" articles, a series that provides additional materials to help players survive this campaign. Pgs. 14-47
The Pathfinder Beginner Box contains everything you need to learn how to play the Pathfinder roleplaying game, including rules to create your own fantasy hero and tools to make your own amazing stories. Heroes' Handbook This 72-page softcover gets you started as a player with a solo adventure, followed by steps to create your own character. As your hero grows you can level them up through 3rd level! Game Master's Handbook This 88-page softcover opens with an adventure to teach you the rules you need as you go. There are also tools for creating your own adventures and plenty of monsters for the heroes to overcome! Accessories The box also includes everything you need to get playing right away: a full set of color-coded polyhedral dice, four pregenerated character sheets, six blank character sheets, four sets of action tokens, rules reference cards to plan and track a character’s turn, a laminated, two-sided Flip-Mat, and over 100 sturdy cardboard pawns with plastic bases to represent your heroes, friends, and foes. All you need to bring is a pencil, a thirst for adventure, and your imagination!
For years, the knights of Mendev have held back the evil locked inside the Worldwound, a vast, demon-tainted landscape. Every few years, they anoint a new protector, a sacred guardian charged with pitting his will against the teeming hordes bent on devouring the very souls of the living. This year, something has gone horribly wrong, and now a bloodthirsty demonic army has overrun the ancient fortress, and threatens to pour into the surrounding countryside.
For more than a hundred years, the demon-infested Worldwound has warred against humanity, its Abyssal armies clashing with crusaders, barbarians, mercenaries, and heroes along the border of lost Sarkoris. But when one of the magical wardstones that helps hedge the demons into their savage realm is sabotaged, the crusader city of Kenabres is attacked and devastated by the demonic hordes. Can a small band of heroes destined for mythic greatness survive long enough to hold back the forces of chaos and evil until help arrives, or will they become the latest in a long line of victims slaughtered by Deskari, the demon lord of the Locust Host?
The Wormwood Mutiny is the first in the Skull and Shackles Adventure Path by Paizo. The adventurers wake to find themselves press-ganged into the crew of the pirate ship Wormwood, the vessel of the nefarious Captain Barnabus Harrigan. They'll have to learn how to survive as pirates if they're to have any hope of weathering rough waves, brutal crew members, enemy pirates, ravenous beasts, and worse. But when fortune turns to their favor, it's up to the new crew to decide whether they'll remain the pirate's swabs or seize control and set sail for adventures all their own.
A killer is stalking the warforged of Sharn. Some say the murderer is a vengeful spirit, while others blame human bigotry and fear. Can the adventurers expose the truth that lies hidden in the depths of Sharn? Steel Shadows is a D&D adventure suitable for four characters of 7th level. This adventure is set in the city of Sharn in the Eberron campaign setting. Since this is a mystery themed adventure, at least one of the characters should have the Investigate feat. The adventure includes a sidebar for scaling the adventure for lower and higher level characters.
The sleepy town of Karpad in shadow-haunted Nidal has long been overseen by the Boroi family, and until a few weeks ago, the citizens under Baron Stepan Boroi's rule have lived uneventful lives of relative peace. Recently, however, the outbreak of a virulent and fatal disease and a number of mysterious disappearances have left the people of Karpad paranoid and fearful. Even Baron Stepan has been acting strangely, and now the tenuous balance of racial tensions between Karpad's human and fetchling populations stands on the verge of collapsing into total anarchy.
A Runelord Rises! The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path concludes! The Runelord of Greed, Karzoug the Claimer, stirs in the legendary city of Xin-Shalast. There are more forces than an ancient evil wizard at work in this remote corner of Golarion, a place where the boundaries between reality and nightmare are unnaturally thin. Karzoug's minions have awakened as well, among them giants and dragons and devils and worse. Could there be an even deeper evil poised to emerge from the darkness at the dawn of time? Can the Rise of the Runelords be stopped?
Something's not right in the hamlet of Verdinica. Why do the locals wear such thick clothing, even in the midst of a heart and muggy summer? And what sort of "prisoners" could make the strange, sloshing noises that are heard some nights coming from the gaol? Pgs. 38-57
The Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path continues with “Sword of Valor,” by RPG Superstar Neil Spicer. The PCs, now invested with righteous mythic power, are poised to become the greatest heroes of this seemingly endless war against the demons of the Worldwound… provided they can succeed at their first mission. The citadel city of Drezen was once a symbol of the First Crusade’s triumph against the Worldwound, yet when a larger horde of demons attacked, they shattered Drezen’s defenses and captured both the citadel and the crusaders’ symbol of power. Can the PCs help lead an army north to reclaim Drezen and recover this potent relic, or are they marching their comrades and followers to a gruesome demise?
"The Devil Box" is a D&D adventure suitable for four 2nd-level PCs, although it can be modified for parties of 1st or 4th-5th levels as noted int the "Scaling the Adventure" sidebar. Characters completing the adventure are likely to advance to 3rd level. Much of the action takes place in a small town during a festival; this town can easily be dropped into an existing campaign. Since "The Devil Box" expects the PCs to deal with kobolds as temporary allies, it throws in some ethical dilemmas for good-aligned characters. Paladins and good-aligned clerics my have difficulties with such an alliance, but kobolds are definitely the lesser of the two evils involved in this adventure. If the party spurns the assistance of potential kobold allies, you may wish to modify the adventure to make it a bit easier on the player characters, as encounters have been written with the assumption that the heroes have a little help. Uploader's note: A hilariously creepy adventure involving a circus (freakshow), with in style illustrations! (Grid maps included, but not separate maps.)
The pearl divers of Shoalbury are in trouble. A band of birdlike kenku and ogres have been ambushing and plundering outgoing shipments of pearls, and the villagers are growing desperate. And why are the bandits stealing eyes from the bodies of their victims? A single guard survived the most recent ambush with one eye intact, and his testimony may just be enough to lead a brave band of adventurers to the bandit lair, and to the sinister cult they serve.
The PCs return to Diamond Lake to consult with the sage Allustan, they find the town in shambles and Allustan is missing. Locals tell tales of a terrible dragon's rampage through town. Unfortunately for the characters, the dragon is only the beginning. "A Gathering of Winds" is the sixth installment of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures, several "Backdrop" articles to help Dungeon masters run the series, and a handful of poster maps of key locations. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon's monthly "Worm Food" articles, a series that provides additional materials to help players survive this campaign. Those who have studied the cult of Kyuss and read through the Apostolic Scrolls they recovered in "The Champion's Belt" may qualify for the wormhunter prestige class, a highly customizable five-level prestige class detailed in Dragon #338's "Wormfood." Pgs. 38-66
The town of Sandpoint, Varisia, Inner Sea Region has put out a bounty on the nearby tribe of Licktoad Goblins in retribution for the goblins raiding traders and travelers near the quiet town. The party takes up the bounty and ventures into the swamp; eventually finding the goblin village in ruins and it's inhabitants scared in it's burned huts. The party finds out; either through investigation of the ruins or the goblins themselves; that a group of skeletons with eastern arms and armor had ransacked the village and took a stash of fireworks that the goblins stole from an old shipwreck. The party then makes it to this cave and finds it empty except for a half dozen skeletons. Further in past the skeletons is their leader, a skeletal samurai who fights the party in an attempt to defend his treasure. The treasure turns out to be a letter that reveals that secrets of the Kaijitsu family; the same family their good friend Ameiko who runs the Rusty Dragon inn belongs to; that lies in wait in the abandoned town of Brinewall to the northern boarder of Varisia. Ameiko along with several other important NPCs with a caravan north. It's recommended that GMs create encounters for the caravan trip north as it's essentially 3 weeks of travel with nothing in it. It's also recommended that GMs completely ignore caravan rules; they're not flushed out and they're not fun to run. The party and the caravan reaches the abandoned town of Brinewall where their friend Ameiko becomes possessed and is thrown into a coma; where the other NPCs agree to take care of her while the party explores the town and castle. The castle is a three floor behemoth of a dungeon populated by Dire Corbies, Troglodytes, and various other monsters all under the leadership of Kikonu, an Yamabushi Tengu Oni. The goal of exploring Brinewall Castle is to find the two keys to the vault; one of which is on the Yamabushi Tengu while the other is on a Half-Fiend Decapus that lives in the basement of Brinewall. Once the PCs enter the vault they find the Amatatsu Seal; one of the seals that cement authority to one of the ruling houses in Minkai of Tian Xia; as well as several visions that show that Ameiko Kaijitsu is the rightful heir to be ruler of Minkai and that they'll need to travel north to do so. Such ends the first book of six.
Venture-Captain Calisro Benarry has arranged for the PC's transport to the pirate haven of Port Peril to make contact with Free Captain Stella Fane and negotiate a contract with her, facilitating Society movements through the pirate blockades in the area. The job seems simple: track down the the pirate captain, secure the agreement, and then return to Absalom. But few things are simple when a den of villainous pirates is involved, and it's unlikely the PCs will be able to leave Port Peril without throwing a few punches in a proper pub brawl!
The black clouds of war are gathering, and evil flocks to their thundering call! While seeking the legendary expertise of a cloud giant skymage, the PCs interrupt an attack on his lair by well-armed and magically augmented hill giants. To obtain the cloud giant's arcane knowledge, the PCs must seek out and eliminate the source of the hill giant threat, yet the brutes have little information other than the name of their employer—a mysterious giant calling herself the Storm Queen, whose anger and hatred have transformed over the course of years into a murderous plan that could cost hundreds of innocent lives.
The great city of Absalom is known as a center for trade, education, and art. Inside the Ivy District reside dozens of famous artists, but one has the talent to bring his paintings to life and use paint to conjure terrible monsters bent on destruction. Can the player characters stop the mad painter before he perfects his art? Gallery of Evil is an urban adventure for 8th-level characters, compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. This adventure includes details on the metropolis of Absalom's Ivy District, as well as the home of the diabolical artist and his twisted works. The PCs must track down the deadly paintings and discover the true identity of the artist behind it all.