Pathfinder Teases New Runelords Content

Paizo Publishing may be bringing back the Runelords, the original villains of their Pathfinder campaign setting. On social media yesterday, Paizo posted a Wayne Reynolds promotional image from their original Rise of the Runelords adventure path along with a brief post saying that the Runelords would be returning in upcoming Pathfinder products. No further detail was given.

https://bsky.app/profile/paizo.com%2Fpost%2F3llcruuwlgi26

The Runelords featured in a trilogy of popular adventure paths and were one of the key villains of the Golarion setting. The seven magic casters, each representing a different kind of cardinal sin, ruled over ancient Thassilon until its destruction via the cataclysmic Earthfall event. Paizo's first Pathfinder adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, pitted heroes against the return of one such Runelord, while the Shattered Star and Return of the Runelords adventure paths followed up on the return of ancient Thassilon and brought back other runelords to the present day. In Golarion's shifting continuity, two Runelords are now active, with one ruling over a newly founded New Thassilon in a benevolent fashion.

Popular speculation is that Paizo is updating Rise of the Runelords for Pathfinder 2E, as there are relatively few OGL-based monsters. A stream detailing Paizo's plans will air this Friday.

 

[Reynard]

I am probably not alone in wishing that they would do a 5E version of this path -- or even better, a ToV or A5E version.

 

[Anthro78]

I am probably not alone in wishing that they would do a 5E version of this path -- or even better, a ToV or A5E version.

Technically all it would take is a monsters conversion. The actual plot and storyline would be easily ported over. Maybe a few things like haunts and traps would need a little updating? Shouldn't be terribly hard, but it makes me wonder if the 5e conversions they've done up to now were financially sufficient to justify the outlay?

 

[Reynard]

Technically all it would take is a monsters conversion.

I don't buy this. Encounter expectations are different between games. look how poorly the direct port of the encounters went with the Savage Worlds conversion.

Different games are different, even when they are closely related. Conversions should be done with as much care as original design.

 

[Superchunk77]

I don't buy this. Encounter expectations are different between games. look how poorly the direct port of the encounters went with the Savage Worlds conversion.

Different games are different, even when they are closely related. Conversions should be done with as much care as original design.

How was the Savage Pathfinder port poorly done?

 

[Konrad13]

How was the Savage Pathfinder port poorly done?

As far as I am aware it hasn't been, a few friends of mine love it and I didn't really see many complaints online about it beyond people wanting original content for it.

 

[Reynard]

How was the Savage Pathfinder port poorly done?

As far as I am aware it hasn't been, a few friends of mine love it and I didn't really see many complaints online about it beyond people wanting original content for it.

Savage Worlds does not have the same expectations of "fights per day" for XP, and nor does it use resources the same way. By porting over the encounters the way they did, they made the adventures work AGAINST what Savage Worlds is designed to do.

How you managed to not see those complaints is beyond me. They are pretty common.

 

[Retreater]

Aren't they making a Pathfinder-inspired board game set in Golarion? My guess is that the Runelords feature in the boardgame.

 

[TheSword]

I once ran a conversion of all three chapters into one Runelords based mega campaign set in Eberron. It was as great fun.

We completed four books of the Rise of the Runelords, two books of Shattered Star and one book of Return of the Runelords. The PCs reached level 14 and I think fatigue took over.

I really like pathfinder APs but I think their dungeons have a tendency to sprawl - in order to reach the 6 to ten encounters per day. I’d love to rerun the mash up with a new group and pare down each location to a five room dungeon. Make it more sandboxy. For example the main Dungeon of Burnt Offerings - intended to cover the equivalent of level 3-4 has 50 locations! Fifty! And 20 combat encounters. That could be dramatically reduced.

Really like interested to see how a new AP and how the new Eberron Book would dovetail into this.

 

[Reynard]

Aren't they making a Pathfinder-inspired board game set in Golarion? My guess is that the Runelords feature in the boardgame.

That is set in Darkmoon Vale. I don't think it is a Runelords game.