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96 pages, 2008, $19.99
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Story
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19
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Enjoyability
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18
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Adaptability
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15
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Intelligibility
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18
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Overall
18
Solid Hit
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Review Scoring
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After many harrowing battles and dangerous journeys the player
characters have finally come to the end of their struggles against the Runelord of
Greed, Karzoug. In order to face the villian however, the heroes will have to find
the lost city of Xin-Shalast, the Runelord of Greed's stronghold.
This final adventure in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path is split evenly between
finding Xin-Shalast and battling past Karzoug's minions in the city itself to reach
the awakening Runelord. Finding the city is not as easy as it might seem on the surface
due to a pair of dead dwarves, giants, and the magic of the city that protects it from
detection, but the city itself is far more dangerous, even with the knowledge and weapons
gained by the player characters in the previous adventures.
Perhaps the best part of the adventure is the final battles, which are filled with
tense moments and deadly opponents. It will take every bit of strategy, skill and dumb
luck the player characters can summon to strike down Karzoug on his home turf.
Included in this issue is a lengthy description of Karzoug himself, detailing his history,
motivations and equipment. Karzoug is arrayed with some of the most impressive
offensive and defensive items ever to grace a villian in fantasy gaming. Since most
of the adventure takes place at high attitudes, this issue also includes an article on
the risks and dangers of high attitude adventures and specific information on the
Kodar Mountains, where Xin-Shalast is located. This information will be helpful for
Game Masters and players alike.
Like all preceding issues, Spires of Xin-Shalast contains another journal entry
detailing the latest exploits of Edo Kline, Pathfinder. This time Edo finds himself in
desperate need to escape the city of Korvosa with his latest finds. And of course, the
fan favorite, the Bestiary makes another appearance, this time detailing seven monsters found
in mountains and Lovecraft inspired monsters hailing from the demiplane of the Leng
Plateau. These monsters, even the Rune Giant, can be easily dropped into an existing
campaign that takes place in a mountainous region. Only the Denizen of Leng would need
significant changes, or the introduction of Leng to an ongoing campaign.
Finally, this issue wraps up with a preview of the second adventure path, the Curse
of the Crimson throne, which takes place mostly in the city of Korvosa, providing
a great opportunity for players to test out their urban gaming skills.
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