Episode 5: Editors Only!

You wouldn't think that a game of Hero Quest would be as hard to get together as it has been, but that speaks to how busy its been at the Paizo offices this past year. So we're going to call episode four at one session—in my past experiences Hero Quest only has one dungeon anyway—and move on.

And what a perfect month to move on into!

It's the second week of October and the second week of my totally spur of the moment decision to run a different creepy RPG every week this month. Last week I kicked it off by running Paizo's editors through the first pages of Dungeon #146's "Meenlock Prison," reinterpreted for the Pathfinder RPG and set on the western shore of Druma in the Inner Sea Region. The group is insane, so I don't actually expect horror to overcome high jinx, but we'll see—and we're already having a blast playing! The Paizo Editors Only! Game is:

Judy Bauer as Caw the raised by crows gnome barbarian
Chris Carey as Saling the bagpipe playing halfling bard
Ryan Macklin as Blacktear the goth dwarven cleric of Pharasma
James Sutter as Oy McKrakin the weasel wrangling dwarven witch

So far, our first levelers have made it from the coastal village of Tarrob to the prison island of Prophet's Vineyard with writs for the release of two prisoners, Lyle Benedict and the "Blessed of Shelyn." After almost capsizing in their quarter mile crossing to the island, the party reached the prison and nimble deduced that the crew claiming to be the warden and his guards probably aren't who they say they are. They turned an ambush around on one of the good ol' guards and nearly subduded him, when something from the ajar door leading into the underground cells nabbed the defeated tough and yanked him inside.

The adventure is fun, but I'm doing a lot of on the fly revision to make things work with the Pathfinder RPG and to make it feel a bit less rail-roady. Fortunately, when good sense would typically fold an adventurer's curiosity doubles down.

"Meenlock Prison" is on track to wrap up on Tuesday the 5th, so watch for more from Paizo's warriors of words early next month!