Legacy of Fire

[gdmcbride]

I just read the first issue of Paizo's newest adventure path "Legacy of Fire" -- Pathfinder #19: "Howl of the Carrion King" by Erik Mona. I have read only the PDF, the book is not yet in stores.

2008 had been a mixed bag regarding fantasy adventure writing. Paizo started strong with the masterful 'Curse of the Crimson Throne' but then went to the I think comparatively lackluster 'Second Darkness'.

Necromancer stopped putting out ... well, anything.

WotC produced adventures yes, but formulaic ones mostly lackluster. "Pyramid of Shadows" was okay, I guess. Their adventure path "Scales of War" (an alleged sequel to WotC's superlative "Red Hand of Doom") has so far been a boring muddle.

Goodman Games has had a few passing efforts -- "Isle of the Sea Drake" and "Scions of Punjar" ain't terrible. But blow me away good? Well...

Nick Logue started his own company 'Sinister Adventures' promising to give us a great pirate-themed adventure called "Razor Coast". It's almost a year late and still no "Razor Coast". Oh, how we suffer alone in the wilderness, Nick...

Mongoose did a new edition of Dragon Warriors and gave us the incredible "Sleeping Gods" (truly a lost jewel from the dawn of RPGs) re-edited and updated.

But now Legacy of Fire comes along and brightens my world. If you are in to D&D (any edition), you should own this adventure. Yes, its a 3.5 adventure. I am sure there is already underway fan efforts to convert it to 4th ed. But let's not let edition wars cloud our judgment.

'Legacy of Fire' is D&D in mythic Arabia (herein called Qadira). It is Al-Qadim reborn, reimagined and done right. It is savage gnoll packs howling in the desert, camel caravans across trackless wastes, magic carpets, shimmering oases, poorly worded wishes, scheming djinn, and the intrigues of the City of Brass. It is only the first adventure out of six. It is impossible to judge the whole yet. But in the first inning, it is a homerun.

This adventure had me at the introduction where Jame Jacobs wrote (hidden because of some potential for spoilerage)...
"This time, the big bad end guy isn’t out to rule the nation or become immortal or blow up the world—he’s just looking to impress the girl he’s in love with. That “girl” happens to be Ymiri, the Queen of the Inferno, and the things that impress her are armies and monstrous strength, but at its heart, Legacy of Fire is just about a lonely genie looking for a little love."

You can read more about it at Paizo's web site. (http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/legacyOfFire)

You'll even find a two page outline of the entire adventure path if you care to really know what this story is about.

Gary

[Arch Lich Thoth-Amon]

Very cool, gdmcbride. From how you described "Legacy of Fire," i've decided to pick it up when its available in HB. Also good to know that its 1 of 6 modules to be released in a series.

[gdmcbride]

Very cool, gdmcbride. From how you described "Legacy of Fire," i've decided to pick it up when its available in HB. Also good to know that its 1 of 6 modules to be released in a series.

Legacy of Fire will likely never be available in hardcover. It is being released as six 100-page softbound books over the next five or so months. Some older issues of Pathfinder have gone out of print and are now fairly hard to find. So, I wouldn't delay terribly long. Of course, you could always buy it in PDF form.

The AP does have other support material, but they are all purely optional and detailed in full at the web site.

I hope eventually they make miniatures for it (as they have done with the first adventure path).

Gary

[Arch Lich Thoth-Amon]

Good to know. Softbound is fine with me. I'll go check out Paizo's site later today.

[Srt. Freeman]

gdmcbride, cool to know your opinion on all of the different campains.
do you know any other sites that would have any good d20 modern campaings or campaing ideas?

[gdmcbride]

D20 modern?

WotC put out a load of free adventures for d20 modern. You can download them here. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/oaa/full) I have no idea how good they are. But at the cost of free, its hard to be too critical.

I know J.D.Wiker, a former WotC employee put out some PDF only adventures here. (http://www.thegamemechanics.com/products/bronzehead.asp) I have encountered someone who really liked them, but I can't personally vouch for them.

And of course, RPGnow (http://www.rpgnow.com) has the mother load of D20 modern adventures and sourcebooks (almost all of which are PDF only).

But can I specifically recommend any? 'Fraid not. D20 modern has never been my cup of tea honestly.

Gary

[Srt. Freeman]

Alrighty then. Thanks for the links.
I'm not much for D20 modern either, but it was the only game i could find, and we're havin fun with it.
Thanks again for those links.

[Kalanth]

You have my attention on this one. I admit to being timid to the concept because it is 3.5 and I run 4th edition now, but conversions are relatively easy.

Being stuck at work and unable to research further, do you know if there is any discussion on Paizo boards about converting this over? I don't mind doing it, but if someone else already has... well you get the idea. :)

[Lucian-Sunaka]

Your not likely to find discussion about converting it to 4E at Paizo, the company and most of it's followers (myself included) are all about not converting to 4E. That said, there's still a chance, so if you really want to nothing's stopping you from looking lol.

[Arch Lich Thoth-Amon]

I've been a member of Paizo for years, but as of late this site has favored my full atttentions; are they still going ahead with their 3.75 edition, Lucian-Sunaka?

[gdmcbride]

Yes, Paizo is still going ahead with D&D 3.75 better known as Pathfinder. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG)

We get the 560 page full-color RPG Hardcover (roughly the equivalent of the Player's Handbook and DMG) in August and the Bestiary in September.

'Crypt of the Everflame', a 1st level adventure, previews the final system in July.

Necromancer Games has already promised that the Pathfinder version of Tome of Horrors is in the pipes.

Paizo has already released a licensing agreement for 3rd party companies to support Pathfinder. And this license is what the GSL should have been -- i.e. a seemless continuation of the OGL.

And the fifth AP "Council of Thieves" will use Pathfinder and be released in August as well.

In short, Pathfinder has the potential to be the fantasy RPG release of 2009. After the blundering release of 4th edition, Paizo is really showing us how these things should be done. A one-year open playtest rather than the secretive backroom nonsense of WotC's playtest. A 3rd party license and community standards for fan web sites available SIX months before the games release (where are the WotC community standards for 4th edition today? Still MIA). Great adventure support from day one (a print intro adventure and an AP).

Add in a responsive web site, the Pathfinder society, and a staff who all seems to be on the same page -- it has the potential to be a great launch. Of course in the end only time will tell.

By the way, fans are doing 4th ed conversions of the APs. I know for sure of one well done one for the first AP, Rise of the Runelords being done here. (http://rustydragon.blogspot.com/) If one hasn't started for Legacy of Fire, I'm sure its coming.

Gary

[Arch Lich Thoth-Amon]

3.75: Excellent!
Tomb of Horrors: Excellent!

That's two things i am really looking forward to this year. Very Excellent!!

[UCI RPG]

By the way, fans are doing 4th ed conversions of the APs. I know for sure of one well done one for the first AP, Rise of the Runelords being done here. (http://rustydragon.blogspot.com/)
Thanks for the plug! I appreciate it.

In addition to my conversion of Rise of the Runelords (http://rustydragon.blogspot.com), others have begun conversion projects in the same vein covering some of the other adventure paths, including Curse of the Crimson Throne (http://talesfromthethreeringstavern.blogspot.com/) and Legacy of Fire (http://blogunderawanderingstar.blogspot.com/). They're both relatively new blogs, but they look promising, and I hope both authors stick with it.