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Pathfinder #2: The Skinsaw Murders

Reviewed by: Wayne Tonjes

Rise of the Runelords: The Skinsaw Murders by Paizo Publishing, LLC is the second d20 module in their initial Pathfinder series. Working off the adventure path format used in the former Dungeon and Dragon magazines, this series provides multiple adventures designed to link together to form a continuous campaign, with extensive support material. The series runs through a set of six installments each for a particular campaign. This edition provides the second adventure of the Rise of the Runelords arc appropriate for fourth level characters, although this detail is only mentioned at the end of the story and on the back cover.

This volume continues to use the same basic format of the Pathfinder series with a slight shift in the chronicle section but otherwise sticking to the same four supplemental sections, a short set of pregenerated characters, and a preview of the next book in the series. This adventure picks up after the events of the first adventure, Burnt Offerings with a shift to grimmer, downright horrific foes. Unraveling the murders around the usually peaceful coastal town leads the heroes farther afield while bringing them a trifle closer to the cause of recent events as outlined on the series website:

“A sudden string of brutal killings terrorizes Sandpoint, and the killer’s mark bears a disturbing similarity to the strange rune the goblins in the previous adventure had taken as their tribal totem. Investigation leads the heroes to confront a sinister murderer who has claimed a notorious haunted mansion as his lair. Yet this murderer is one of many, a member of a group of killers who call themselves the Skinsaw Men and have adopted an ancient magic involving the seven deadly sins. The PCs must travel to the bustling city of Magnimar to unravel the truth behind the rune, but in so doing may become prime suspects in the killings themselves!”

As in the previous volume, a key urban setting of the adventure is introduced, this time the much larger city of Magnimar, City of Monuments, built beneath part of an ancient bridge left from the days of Thassilon. This material reviews some of the city history, a map with key locations outlined, and some portraits of notable residents. Given the possible outcomes of the adventure, the review of the politics is crucial to further adventures if the city is not adopted as a more active headquarters from which to work.

A second section provides details on one of the settings deities, a mixed goddess of wandering, luck, and dreams. The church of this particular goddess should be somewhat familiar to players of this story arc, having featured in Sandpoint, so this section offers some further details including a prestige class for her worshippers. Unfortunately, the section makes passing reference to a new type of weapon her clergy are prone to use, without providing the full statistical information of what type of weapon it is or its ranges. This seems to be a recurring flaw as most of the villains in the module were using an ill-defined ‘war razor’. This is surprising given that several magical items that appear in the course of the adventure were fully developed in sidebars, but apparently the mundane items were overlooked.

The remaining couple sections are more standardized, although the Pathfinder’s Journal section has shifted from random book jacket information of various editions to a specific selection of entries from one author. As such, this element seems to be shifting towards a serial story about a specific quest, a much narrower but more complete format with better development of a particular locale. Finally, the volume’s last main section is a short bestiary which adds six new creature statistics. Four of these creatures make a direct appearance within the adventure while the other two were brought up in the support sections. The creatures run through the lower encounter levels, but still fit well within the adventure tolerance range. They are organized alphabetically and use the new standard 3.5 format, with a nice sidebar on monster naming strategies, appropriate since a few of the monsters have appeared in previous incarnations within the d20 system or its predecessors. There is one recurring flaw in one of the creature entries, though, regarding the strength of an ability, giving one value in the statistics block, but a contradictory value in the descriptive text. Hopefully a note has been raised in the errata already.

The Skinsaw Murders truly builds on the solid start of Burnt Offerings with a definite turn towards the grisly. Given that the first adventure focused on cannibalistic goblins who liked to sing about eating people, that says something. The tone does seem to have matured between the two volumes. Furthermore, this volume expands the setting, moving beyond the homey village to a more prominent city, allowing more urbane, social characters with a new focus. There’s a fair bit of social snooping as part of this module, along with some minor outdoors work and a couple effective dungeon crawls. This addition shares the flaw of the previous volume, though, with no scaling options for modifying encounters for varying level parties or for particularly focused play styles. But it does maintain a strong supporting material which seems to have found a slightly better structure for developing and presenting the world.

The art remains superb in this second volume of the Pathfinder series. The book is full color, with glossy pages and easy to find the section breaks, each using its own background color and framing. The art style used in the illustrations continues to be outstanding, keeping a decided anime style flavoring for all creatures and characters. Overall, the editing is sharp with only thirteen typos reaching print and the previously mentioned oversight of missing item descriptions. The book is simply gorgeous, a sharp and distinct feel from the old stapled booklets with scratchy line art. That change in feel is a critical aspect of this product that some will love and some will hate. The story seems to also be growing in depth, without even getting to the main plot of the series yet. But the hints are there for those who dare look further. Take a look but keep the holy water, for errant undead, and the chamomile tea, for errant stomachs, handy.

For more details on Paizo Publishing, LLC and their new d20 module, Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords: , check them out at their website http://paizo.com and at local game stores.

(Product Summary)

Pathfinder #2: Rise of the Runelords: The Skinsaw Murders
From: Paizo Publishing, LLC
Type of Game: d20 Module
Editor-in-Chief: James Jacobs
Associate Editor: F. Wesley Schneider
Assistant Editor: James Sutter and Mike McArtor
Art Director: Sarah Robinson
Managing Art Director: James Davis
Production Manager: Jeff Alvarez
Brand Manager: Jason Bulmahn
Marketing Director: Joshua J. Frost
Publisher: Erik Mona
Managing Art Director: James Davis
Contributing Authors: Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, Richard Pett, Sean K Reynolds, and F. Wesley Schneider
Cover Art by: Wayne Reynolds
Additional Art by: John Gravato, Andrew Hou, Kyle Hunter, JZConcepts, Warren Mahy, and Ben Wootten
Cartography by: Rob Lazzaretti
Number of Pages: 96
Game Components Included: Soft Cover Book or Electronic File
Retail Price: $19.99 (Either Soft Cover Edition)
Retail Price: $13.99 (PDF Format)
Item Number: PZO9002
ISBN: 978-1-60125-037-7
Email: subscriptions@paizo.com
Phone: (425) 289-0060
Website: paizo.com

Reviewed by: Wayne Tonjes

Added: April 15th 2008
Reviewer: Wayne Tonjes
Score:
Related Link: The Skinsaw Murders Product Page at Paizo
Hits: 155
Language: eng

  

[ Back to reviews index | Post comment ]

Pathfinder #2: The Skinsaw Murders
Posted by MigarFrobert on 2008-04-24 03:59:30
My score:




The war razor (and other Pathfinder items) are detailed in the (free as pdf) Players Guide - http://paizo.com/pathfinder/v5748btpy7xpx&source;=top. This is where the feats etc. specific to the adventure path are detailed, so it''s really a must.






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