"The Direct Approach"

 

My first contribution to the Pathfinder RPG was a piece of short fiction called "The Drawings on the Wall," featuring the Iconic characters Ezren and Fumbus. I recently had the opportunity to write a second story about two different Iconics, namely Jirelle the swashbuckler and Sajan the monk. Their playable classes appear in the Pathfinder Player Core 2, as does the above illustration of the "Water Sprint" feat by Alexander Nanitchkov.

This was another fun one to work on. Read the story here!

"The Drawings on the Wall"

I got back into tabletop RPGs in 2006 when my sons and I started playing Pathfinder (1st edition). We loved Wayne Reynolds's artwork and the enormity of character options and published adventures. We plan to dive into 2nd edition with the upcoming Beginner Box, so I was thrilled by the opportunity to contribute a piece of web fiction to the Paizo Blog. The story prompt was the above illustration of Iconic characters Ezren and Fumbus by Juan Miguel Lopez Baraea, found in Pathfinder Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide.

Read the story here!

Dungeons & Dragons & Drawing

Once upon a time Often upon fifteen+ years ago, I played that little role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons. As you'll notice in the "Labels" section on the right, I've mentioned D&D here before, plus in a short product description for Nerdy With Children a few years back. I owe my cousins for introducing it to me, because I loved it, and used it (like many people have) to build storytelling skills, plan and write novels, and enjoy a whole lot of adventures with my friends. I guess you could say this is my attempt to pay it forward!

I've mentioned in earlier posts that, after a long hiatus from dungeon-delving games, I eventually found Descent 2nd Edition. I'm still a rabid Descent fan, which I value for its artwork, its relative simplicity (compared to RPGs, which it isn't), and its short preparation time. In other words, I've appreciated not having to fill what I remember as the very time-consuming role of "Dungeon Master."

However, a few months ago, I discovered a Humble Bundle for an RPG called Pathfinder, which is D&D 3rd edition's Open License rule system re-branded by Paizo Publishing. I wasn't eager to jump back into tabletop RPGs; if anything, I avoided it. However, the bundle included digital copies of hundreds of dollars worth of rulebooks and quest modules for less than $20, which was hard to ignore. I mentioned it to a father and son at my church as well as my two boys, and they all convinced me to go for it.