Pathfinder #1 Rise Of The Runelords: Burnt Offerings (Pathfinder; Rise of the Ruinlords) [Paperback]

James Jacobs (Author), Wayne Reynolds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2007 | Series: Pathfinder; Rise of the Ruinlords (Book 1)

The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path begins in the small coastal town of Sandpoint. In a time when rumors of rampaging dragons and massing armies of giants have everyone on edge, the people of Sandpoint eagerly anticipate the coming festival to commemorate the consecration of a new temple. Yet, at the height of the ceremony, disaster strikes. A band of goblins assaults Sandpoint, and it falls to the heroes to defend the new temple. In the days that follow, a mysterious malady that leaves its victims monstrously deformed and dangerously insane spreads through the town. The PCs must not only determine what's causing this strange contagion, but also discover the sinister connection between the plague, the goblin attacks, and the emergence of a strange rune from an empire thought to be long dead. This installment of Pathfinder also includes extensive details on the town of Sandpoint, rules and details on a new pantheon of deities, several new monsters, and information on the mysterious ancient empire of Thassilon, whose cruel and despotic rulers may not be as dead as history would have us believe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Paizo Publishing, LLC. (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601250355
• ISBN-13: 978-1601250353
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,195,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some of the best adventure material out there, September 23, 2007

By 

CW - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pathfinder #1 Rise Of The Runelords: Burnt Offerings (Pathfinder; Rise of the Ruinlords) (Paperback)

This is one solid piece of work. The adventure is great and leaves you wanting more. The background and detail of Sandpoint (where the adventure begins) and the villains is colorful and imaginative. The new monsters are mostly great. And the reinvention of goblins is inspiring! All and all, very well put together. This is the first installment of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path and I can't wait till the rest are released.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to Golarian!, April 14, 2008

By 

Daniel R. Robichaud II (Worcester, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pathfinder #1 Rise Of The Runelords: Burnt Offerings (Pathfinder; Rise of the Ruinlords) (Paperback)

The first, full color volume of a six part Adventure Path (aka: campaign) for Dungeons and Dragons (version 3.5), which offers the opening salvo adventure for a party of 1st level Player Characters. The adventure is nicely written, taking place in the coastal town of Sandport and venturing briefly into the hinterlands. In addition to the 40 pages of adventure material (not merely dungeon crawls, there is plenty of room for interactions and drama from more than a character's ability to swing a sword or cast Magic Missle), the module offers a nicely detailed overview of the town and its major Non Player Characters, some fiction offering details about the Pathfinder Society (Paizo's adventuring society, a part of the Rise of the Ruinlords and further Pathfinder Chronicles supplements), a history of a collapsed society (which is crucial to the overarching adventure path), a handful of new monsters, and a quartet of premade player characters.

By now, the full adventure path is already out (and Paizo has moved on to their second effort), but I only just recently actually had a chance to start reading the thing. Quite nice, with a quirky sense of humor (as evinced in one monster chieftain's "Steal Food, Become Food" policy, which had me rolling for a while and still makes me chuckle...). The series apparently gets quite dark as it goes (yay!), but it starts out on a more traditional footing, while doing a little for goblins what Crown of the Kobold King did so well for kobolds... That is: it makes an often overlooked or rather wasted monster type interesting!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If I weren't so stingy, I might even go higher, August 2, 2008

By 

J W Rascher "Knight Errant" (Champaign, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pathfinder #1 Rise Of The Runelords: Burnt Offerings (Pathfinder; Rise of the Ruinlords) (Paperback)

This is really what a roleplaying adventure product should be. There is wonderful background material on the beginning region of the adventure path, really fun monsters, really interesting hooks that make what could be mundane encounters into fun story telling moments.

The creatures in the adventure have actual motivation, and the story is compelling. Not only is this a good introductory adventure, though, but the set up material for the rest of the adventure path shows you what is coming and how this adventure ties in.

In fact, in all honesty, the only real negative I can bring up is that there is a bit of real world agenda evident in some of the character backgrounds in the beginning region. For those that agree with it, its an interesting addition to the setting, and for those that disagree, its not so major a part of the plot that it would be difficult to rework or remove it, but it is potentially problematic for some touchy subjects.

However, I don't want to give the impression that this was a major part of the book. Its handled fairly well, but it could be an issue for some. Still, any controversy is greatly outweighed by the depth of this product and the combination of simple, yet brilliantly nuanced story progression.

There are the standard D&D dungeon crawls, treasure finding, and combats, but the context of these make all the difference.