So I’ve been reading the Pathfinder RPG for a while, and there are a few things about it I absolutely love. One of them was the fact that halflings get Abyssal as a default language. The little buggers have always seemed sort of suspicious to me, frankly. Not as dour as a dwarf, not as funny as a gnome, just a little bit too damn apple-cheeked to be believed.
So, clearly, halflings are tools of the demonic world and should speak Abyssal. Imagine my crushing disappointment when I learned that this was a typo and would be corrected from the galleys I had. So sad, really.
But then I thought: HEY, someone at Paizo thinks halflings are demon spawn. I don’t know who, but they are clearly kindred spirits. And I swear, I may just have to make this canon in the Zobeck setting.
If you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons at all in the last decade, you’ve probably run into Bruce R. Cordell’s work. And if you’ve used his gaming books or run his adventures, you’ve probably noticed that there seems to be some larger—some epic—arc connecting it all.
If you’ve ever met him at a con or online, you probably think he’s a pretty nice guy. He seems as much, anyway.
“My personal theory about Bruce,” said Mike Mearls, co-designer of Iron Heroes and a lead developer on Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, “is that he comes off as a nice, low-key guy, because he wants to save all the scary weirdness in his head for the monstrosities he unleashes on the gaming world.”
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What happens to your spells if the ability score that governs them is somehow reduced? Do you lose any spells? If your spellcasting ability is reduced to 0 or less do you lose all your spellcasting ability?
Some of these questions are easy to answer, and some are trickier. Let’s start with the easy answers:
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The 3E/OGL release of Halls of the Mountain King has gone to the patrons who supported this project; these patrons both contributed to and funded its creation.
The resulting 175-page saga takes characters from 8th to 12th level as they fight a range of foes in the abandoned halls of a major dwarven holding: everything from giants to secret societies, including a dozen new monsters, great NPCs, and a range of traps and puzzles.
The party explores the Halls from the mountain summit to the deeps in the biggest and best dwarf-centric adventure ever published. If we do say so ourselves.
The primary designers are Tim Connors, Michael Furlanetto, Brandon Hodge, Ben McFarland, and Daniel Voyce. The adventure was developed by Wolfgang Baur and edited by Michael McArtor.
Artists included Malcolm McClinton, Pat Loboyko, and Hugo Solis, and the cartographers include Jonathan Roberts, Sean Macdonald, and Lucas Haley.
Finally, much credit also goes to the patrons for their brainstorms, fine-tuning, playtest results, and suggestions.
Thanks to everyone who contributed! The next Open Design project will be announced in July, and the 4th Edition version of Halls of the Mountain King is still on track for an August release.
