Pathfinder 2E Kingmaker Preorders Open

Including the Pathfinder 2E version of the classic adventure path, along with bestiaries which enable you to use the AP with both Pathfinder 1E and with D&D 5E, Paizo has opened pre-orders for a revised version of its most popuar campaign. In addition, you can pick up kindom management tools map packs, and pawns, with 13 products in total available.

September 22, 2022 (REDMOND, Wash.) – Paizo Inc., publisher of the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying games, has opened preorders for the massive Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path suite of products at PathfinderKingmaker.com. The set presents a full-length campaign that chronicles the rise of a new nation—a kingdom built and ruled by the player characters—and contains 13 products with over 1000 pages of expanded and updated tabletop roleplay game adventure material based on the Pathfinder First Edition Kingmaker Adventure Path and the Owlcat computer game adaptation. It will be available to purchase on October 26 at game and bookstores worldwide and at paizo.com.

Over a decade ago, the Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path helped lead the way with an open-ended "sandbox" style adventure that encouraged exploration and conquest in a rugged wilderness. Its open-world narrative and kingdom-building elements gave players and Game Masters unparalleled freedom to explore and shape the world with their heroic actions. It became one of the best-selling and most beloved campaigns in Pathfinder's history.

In past years, Paizo published hardcover collections of the popular Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne campaigns, returning beloved out-of-print favorites updated with new bridging material, new illustrations and maps, errata, and numerous additional improvements. This release brings Kingmaker into the same fold, bigger and better than ever before.

The expansion includes content from Owlcat Games’ best-selling computer game adaptation of the Kingmaker campaign added new adventures, new mysteries, and more than a dozen new companions to accompany the players as they expand their holdings from a single fortress to a burgeoning empire.

This multi-product release includes Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path, a massive new deluxe limited-edition hardcover compilation updated to the latest Pathfinder rules. The Kingmaker Companion Guide presents seven fully detailed companions inspired by the Kingmaker video game, ready to provide all sorts of assistance, each accompanied by a fully detailed personalized adventure to go along with their story. The Kingmaker Bestiary 1st Edition and Kingmaker Bestiary 5th Edition help those who prefer to convert the adventure to their games. The suite includes many additional accessories to enhance play!

Players can find detailed descriptions on each product on the site:

• Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path (P2)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path Special Edition (P2)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Bestiary (First Edition) (P1)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Bestiary (Fifth Edition) (5E)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Companion Guide (P2)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Companion Guide Special Edition (P2)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Kingdom Management Screen (P2)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Kingdom Management Tracker (P2)
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Poster Map Folio
• Pathfinder Kingmaker Pawn Box
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Kingmaker Adventure Path Campsite Multi-Pack
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Kingmaker Adventure Path Noble Manor Multi-Pack
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Kingmaker Adventure Path River Kingdoms Ruins Multi-Pack

Soon, you can face off against bands of bloodthirsty bandits, deadly and dangerous monsters, and mysterious menaces from other realities as you fight to claim the Stolen Lands as your own. Will you rule with justice and mercy, or will you become the very monsters you fought to oppose? In the Kingmaker Adventure Path, the destiny of the world’s newest nation is yours to decide!

Preorder today at PathfinderKingmaker.com.

 

[TheSword]

This. There is some stuff with monsters and fey in the region too, where if you squint hard enough you make an issue out of it. Though as GM it shouldn't be too much work to change the details on anything you find problematic.

Exactly. Pretty much everyone in this land is a visitor because of story reasons. Even the fey.

 

[sevenbastard]

Seems like this would have been a perfect product for a box set. I'll take soft cover in a box over hard cover stand alone any day.

 

[Retreater]

Not sure I agree there.

This is literally from the text of the book, in which the writer (James Jacobs) claims it's an inspiration...

Spoiler: From the 1e adventure Foreward

Students of early American history will no doubt immediately recognize the primary inspiration for “The Varnhold Vanishing.” If you don’t, do yourself a favor and hop onto your nearest Internet connection and read up on the story of Roanoke Colony. The short version goes something like this: the colony was found mysteriously abandoned on August 18, 1590—not a single trace of the more than a hundred colonists was in evidence, and the only clue as to the cause of the vanishing was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post of the fort and “Cro” carved into a nearby tree. Every house had been taken apart, every person had gone missing, and before a proper search could be mounted, a massive storm drove the discoverers of the mystery off. There are numerous theories as to what caused the disappearance of Roanoke Colony, of course—some more believable than others. But the story itself has long lodged in my brain as a great bit of American legend. I’ve been itching to get an adventure inspired by these events into print for years, and here, with Greg’s able help, we have it. I suspect that the reasons behind Varnhold’s vanishing are a bit more supernatural than the truth behind Roanoke. At least, I certainly hope they are!

 

[payn]

This is literally from the text of the book, in which the writer (James Jacobs) claims it's an inspiration...

Spoiler: From the 1e adventure Foreward

Students of early American history will no doubt immediately recognize the primary inspiration for “The Varnhold Vanishing.” If you don’t, do yourself a favor and hop onto your nearest Internet connection and read up on the story of Roanoke Colony. The short version goes something like this: the colony was found mysteriously abandoned on August 18, 1590—not a single trace of the more than a hundred colonists was in evidence, and the only clue as to the cause of the vanishing was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post of the fort and “Cro” carved into a nearby tree. Every house had been taken apart, every person had gone missing, and before a proper search could be mounted, a massive storm drove the discoverers of the mystery off. There are numerous theories as to what caused the disappearance of Roanoke Colony, of course—some more believable than others. But the story itself has long lodged in my brain as a great bit of American legend. I’ve been itching to get an adventure inspired by these events into print for years, and here, with Greg’s able help, we have it. I suspect that the reasons behind Varnhold’s vanishing are a bit more supernatural than the truth behind Roanoke. At least, I certainly hope they are!

Not seeing how this negates any of the things that TheSword says.

 

[doctorhook]

Thanks for the feedback!

As for the price tag, my LGS is offering pre-orders at $100 CAD, which is a lot, but I think this is another mammoth of a book.

 

[Retreater]

Not seeing how this negates any of the things that TheSword says.

Uh, because @TheSword says they disagree that the legend of Roanoke was an inspiration to the adventure when the writer says in the foreward that it was an inspiration.

 

[payn]

Uh, because @TheSword says they disagree that the legend of Roanoke was an inspiration to the adventure when the writer says in the foreward that it was an inspiration.

I dont believe TheSword was saying Roanoke wasnt an inspiration, they were saying the "mysterious natives" and colonial parts are not present in KM. Though, I'll let TheSword speak for their self on that.

 

[SteveC]

As someone who played through the computer game (and is looking forward to running this in PF2): the name Stolen Lands comes from the fact that this region is constantly changing hands with "rulers" rising and falling all the time. What that means is actually a plot point in the game, so I won't say any more about it.

As far as the "Vanishing" goes, the inspiration is very Roanoke inspired, but only in that it's a story of people just vanishing. The actual plot relates again to some setting lore and was something I really enjoyed playing through. It has nothing do do with American colonialism.

From playing and finishing the computer game, there really isn't a sense of colonialism going on here. You get involved with some major forces not of this world, which is all I should say so as to not spoil things.

Edited to add: the other name for the region is the River Kingdoms, which might be a less charged way to refer to them.

 

[Retreater]

"Colony" (or a derived word) appears more than 40 times in the Varnhold Vanishing - so I think it's safe to say that's an ongoing theme. The centaur natives, the "rangelands," the mound-building, the "inhospitable to civilization" theme, etc., can be seen as connected to Native culture. The mysterious creatures responsible for the titular "Vanishing" aren't necessarily a callback to Native Americans, but the colonization aspect was inspired by a real-world story of a British colony in North America.
It is literally, emphatically stated as such by James Jacobs, the adventure's writer.
I'm not saying it's disrespectful or that anyone should feel shame about playing it. I'm not suggesting that it's wrong to buy, read, or play the adventure. And I don't like continuing to belabor this point, since it's taking away from the rest of the conversation - but I am trying to answer a question earlier in this thread.
But yes, it is inspired (at least in part) by colonialism and Native American history and early American legends. Be aware of your group's perspective on such issues.

 

[amethal]

Ouch, it’s not cheap though. $150 dollars plus delivery for just the core book and 5e bestiary.

The pdf version won’t be released until later and won’t come along with the book like it normally does with Paizo products so I’m just gonna wait for that.

I backed it when they crowdfunded it on Indiegogo Game On which was so long ago I can't remember how much I paid. Looking at the pre-order prices, I suspect it was a lot! I'm a sucker for hard-back compilations of adventure paths I already own.

EDIT - got the platform wrong