Over the past few months we’ve spent a great deal of time talking about Pathfinder Second Edition, focusing primarily on the Core Rulebook and Bestiary. While these two hefty tomes are absolutely essential for your table, there is one critical thing that they lack: adventure! After all, what is a roleplaying game without a fun, exciting story to experience?

Fortunately, we have a number of amazing adventures releasing the same day as the Core Rulebook! So, if you want to jump right into the game, there are a variety of tales waiting to be told. (No need to worry about spoilers in this blog, we are only giving you the basics)

Illustration by Setiawan Lie

The Fall of Plaguestone

Designed for 1st-level characters, The Fall of Plaguestone is a standalone 64-page adventure that is designed to tell the story of how a group of strangers became companions. Think of it like the origin story for your group.

The story opens in the back of a merchant’s wagon caravan heading from Elidir—the capital of Isger—toward Andoran, through the valley between the Aspodell and Five Kings mountain ranges. Stopping at small villages and towns along the way, caravan master Bort Bargith is happy to take on travelers, so long as they don’t mind stopping for him to do his business along the way. His next stop is the town of Etran’s Folly, known to some as the town of Plaguestone.

The Fall of Plaguestone should take around 40 hours of gameplay to complete (depending on the group) and by the end, your characters should be around 4th level, ready to take on even greater adventures!

Age of Ashes Adventure Path

Age of Ashes is our first Adventure Path for Pathfinder Second Edition, and I wanted to ensure that the storyline was suitably epic, gave players a good look at numerous locations in the Age of Lost Omens, and played to the strengths of the new rules—all while giving players a host of memorable villains and allies to meet, fight, and befriend.

Hellknight Hill starts in the nation of Isger, a region we’ve not had the opportunity to do much with in previous Adventure Paths. In doing so, we’ve got a mix of old lore (focusing on the abandoned Hellknight Order of the Nail fortress, Citadel Altaerein, as the adventure’s primary site), and brand-new lore (with the introduction of this campaign’s “home town” of Breachill). During the course of Age of Ashes, the PCs will travel to several other sites across the continents of Avistan and Garund, but Breachill and Citadel Altaerein are very much intended to feel like home. If you’re planning on running Age of Ashes for your group, you’ll want to become familiar with the town of Breachill, detailed in this volume, and be ready to present the town’s inhabitants as needed. Each volume of Age of Ashes will give additional information about key citizens from the town on the inside back covers, but you should feel free to expand the stories of those locals whom your players take a shine to as you see fit!

Illustration by Leonardo Borazio

Citadel Altaerein itself is, in a way, one such character—for once the PCs manage to deal with the monsters and dangers that occupy its halls, they might just earn the right to claim the castle as their home! There’s far more going on in Age of Ashes than castle management and hobnobbing with the locals, but as the campaign grows more and more epic in scope, it’s important that your players retain the feeling that Breachill is a safe haven—a place they can go to relax, rest, and recover after their adventures. A place they can truly call home!

Age of Ashes is a six-part campaign designed to take a party of player characters from 1st to 20th level, and can provide months or even years of gameplay depending on the pace and frequency of your particular group. Each month we’ll release a new volume of the Adventure Path, which you can get through our ongoing Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription. You can also use Hellknight Hill as a standalone adventure with the potential to grow into a larger campaign, so don’t hesitate to pick it up on Thursday to start your Pathfinder Second Edition adventures with a bang!

Jason Buhlman

Director of Game Design

James Jacobs

Creative Director