Crown of the Kobold King

I’ve been looking forward to this month for a while. Yes, I know I posted about Kingmaker the other day, so you’re probably thinking that’s what I was looking forward to. Some of you might be thinking that I was looking forward to hearing the death cries of player characters during the March of the Dead runs in Hannibal and Quincy this month. Okay, I am looking forward to those wails, but I get to hear those pretty much every time I sit at the table. No, this month I was looking forward to the release of this Pathfinder 2e Adventure, Crown of the Kobold King Anniversary Edition!

I was just speaking with Jason on his Twitch feed a couple of weeks ago about this particular adventure and he said they wrote the first one of modules that make up this new Adventure before they even began to create Pathfinder First Edition. So that shows you how far back this goes. That module was D0 – Hollow’s Last Hope. It was published in June of 2007 as an introduction to their new Gamemastery modules. Originally it was a free PDF download from the website and printed editions were given as free gifts at FLGSs on Free Game Day 2007. It was written by Jason Bulmahn and F. Wesley Schneider. Jason of course is the Director of Game Design at Paizo, the creator of Pathfinder 1e, and co-creator of Pathfinder 2e. Wesley was the Editor-in-Chief at Paizo until 2017.

This new adventure, Crown of the Kobold King, combines three modules and one Free RPG Day short adventure, along with a brand new level written especially for this new adventure into an updated version. Several unique monsters and items have been added to the 2e universe as well. Those classic modules include the original ones that followed Hollow’s Last Hope as a multipart storyline. The sequels were D1.0 – Crown of the Kobold King (Nicolas Logue), D1.5 (the Free RPG Day 2008 offering) – Revenge of the Kobold King (Nicolas Logue), and D4 – Hungry are the Dead (Tim Hitchcock). Nicolas Logue also wrote the new level for the updated Adventure. Some of the original Pathfinders might also remember Nicolas as the original Organized Play Director of Pathfinder Society fame before he left to take a teaching position in England. Funnily enough, Tim is a science teacher in New York. Both still contribute freelance work in the industry.

This new version of the classics modules is a 128-page hardcover that has the regular cover and a special edition cover which I must say looks rather nice. Inside the covers are over a hundred pages of adventure for 1st to 6th-level parties, including a full gazetteer of the lumber town of Falcon’s Hollow. There are fifteen new magic items and other new treasures to discover. Eight classic monsters from the original adventures, all brand new to Pathfinder Second Edition make their canonical appearance for the first time. And so does the Kobold King himself! Completely updated to Pathfinder Second Edition, the insidious Kobold King and his minions return to bedevil a new generation of adventurers! Will your heroes save the town of Falcon’s Hollow from the Kobold King, or are they doomed to become the king’s latest trophies?

In addition to all that, Paizo has also published a flip-map for the adventure which is available separately from the book. It presents the ruins of an ancient dwarven monastery on one side and a rural cemetery on the other, both of which are significant encounter locations. Sanctioning for this adventure will probably be available at some point in November. Both versions of the adventure and the flip-map are available for ordering right now through your FLGS. Please do your best to support your local game store in any way you can, whether it be through buying drinks or candy, miniatures, paint materials, your books, the adventures, and the maps, dice, and other gaming accessories needed to play the world’s greatest hobby – roleplaying games!