Dungeons and Dragons competitor Pathfinder has revealed a new series of adventures, each of which focuses on the return of a classic sin magic spellcaster. A Paizo livestream from March 28 reveals the Revenge of the Runelords adventure path, and it’s bringing back Xanderghul, the runelord of pride that was long thought dead.
If you’re more of a D&D player, here’s a quick summary of why this news is neat. The Runelords are a classic part of Pathfinder history, first created when Paizo moved away from publishing content for the magazines Dungeon and Dragon. These ambitious Wizards, who practiced a corrupted form of rune magic based on the seven deadly sins, helped kickstart a new campaign for Pathfinder back in 2007.
Xanderghul is the runelord pride, who was killed many years ago by the runelord of wrath, Alaznist (who herself hasn’t been seen for 10,000 years). Xanderghul managed to store his soul in a simulacrum after this, but he was killed again by a group of adventurers before he could restore himself to full power. Basically, the guy has been extra dead for a long, long time – and Paizo hasn’t revealed exactly how he’s come back to life.
All we know right now is that Revenge of the Runelords is a three-part adventure for mythic characters that will be released between October and December. Book one, Lord of the Trinity Star, is a level 12 to 14 adventure where players are invited to gather by Sorshen, runelord of lust.
At said gathering, players will notice that people have begun to worship the Trinity Star, a magical falling star mentioned in War of Immortals that definitely isn’t related to the return of Xanderghul. In fact, people are also digging into some runelords research, and this surge of interest in sin magic is causing all sorts of problems.
Next comes book two, Crypt of Runes. By this point, it’s clear that Xanderghul is the Big Bad Evil Guy of the campaign. The players won’t know all his plans, however, or what they can do to stop him.
In Friday’s livestream, Paizo says that this is a Golarion-hopping adventure that takes players to settings visited in many previous Pathfinder adventures. After learning more about Xanderghul’s plans through various Runelord relics, the party heads to the Dreamlands to gather some “unlikely allies” for their quest. “Somewhere in the middle, they save Golarion from being completely destroyed”, says narrative developer Bill Fischer.
Not much was said about the third book, Into the Apocalypse Archive. However, given that “save the world” happens about half-way through your adventure, we can expect the stakes to be darn high.
You can learn more about the upcoming adventure Path in Paizo’s livestream. For character ideas, it might also be worth checking out another recent Pathfinder release, Lost Omens: Rival Academies, which features character options for playing a Runelord. Our announcement feature on that book can tell you more.
For more general character options, here’s all you need to know about Pathfinder classes and Pathfinder races. Or, for another RPG, here’s our guides to DnD classes and DnD races.
Source: Wargamer
