Pathfinder Volume 6: Runescars

Pathfinder Comic Anthologies

by F. Wesley Schneider, James L. Sutter, Ediano Silva (Illustrator)

An exciting new Pathfinder adventure begins! The Pathfinder heroes receive a desperate plea to unmask a killer stalking the chaos-gripped city of Korvosa. A new queen has ascended the city's Crimson Throne, and now deadly armored Hellknights and Gray Maidens clash in the streets. With the help of a cagey adventuring detective, the heroes race down the perilous trail of a brutal murderer--only to realize that the next target might be one of their own! Dare the magic and monsters of gothic Korvosa in the first sword-swinging issue from Pathfinder co-creator F. Wesley Schneider (Pathfinder Hollow Mountain, Bloodbound), with art from Ediano Silva (Grimm Fairy Tales, Hellchild: The Unholy). Contains pull-out poster map and official Pathfinder RPG bonus encounter!

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Role Playing Games

168 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2018

About the author

Editor-in-chief at Paizo Inc. and co-creator of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, F. Wesley Schneider is the author of dozens of Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons adventures as well as several dark fantasy and sci-fi tales.

His first novel, Pathfinder Tales: Bloodbound, debuted from Tor and Paizo Inc. in December 2015. Watch for his story, "Stray Thoughts," in Eclipse Phase: After the Fall - The Anthology of Transhuman Survival & Horror, coming in early 2016.

Find more from Wes at wesschneider.com, on Tumblr at wesschneider, or on Twitter at @FWesSchneider.

Reviews

[Gerry Sacco]

Art not as good, more boring of a story. The collection wraps up with a disappointment.

Really 2.5 stars though because once again they end with some really cool adventures with maps. Kudos for that.

[Darcy]

So this marks the last hardcover compilation (so far) of the Pathfinder titles. For fans of the Role Playing Game, this is as close to an outright dungeon crawl as I think you could come. This reads, for the most part, like a DM has led a party into a dungeon full of surprises and the characters come dangerously close to breaking the fourth wall in their explanations of some of the circumstances that arise. Which means this is great fun! Yes, the exposition gets a little wordy sometimes, but that is balanced out by the fights with swords and with magic.

Out troop gets tangled up with two opposing forces, both claiming they are on the side of law and order, while trying to track down a dangerous sorceress bent on genocide. Everyone gets a chance to shine and we even have an opportunity to see Valeros get about as maudlin as he will likely ever get. I thought that was a nice touch to a character that is usually, fight, sleep, drink and wench, not necessarily in that order. I found this to be a good character development story at the same time as it got down to basics, showing what Pathfinder is all about.

As usual, there are plenty of extras from Dynamite with the request scenarios, maps and cover artwork. a nice edition for your collection and a strong adventure to boot.

[Jeremy Blum]

Runescars is a mystery involving the draconian Hellknights of the Pathfinder world and someone who's going around slicing tattoos off of people. Despite that potentially interesting premise as well as the inclusion of iconic investigator Quinn, who I think is one of the coolest characters in a tabletop RPG and a great example of Black representation, the story doesn't come together in an engaging way and I found this to be a step beneath the other Pathfinder comics. I did like the deepening of Valeros, though - who slowly evolves from his portrayal as a mostly stab-happy dumb fighter when he expresses interest in one of the Gray Maidens and even muses on the nature of his life as a traveling vagabond who hasn't put down roots, and will therefore not have anyone grieve him when he passes. (Spiral of Bones, the follow-up to this story, does a fine job of building and improving on these concepts, so read this one in preparation for a better examination of Valeros in the next volume.)

[David]

I like the Pathfinder series and did like this volume, though I think the art started to slip here. It's not a huge decline, but it is noticeable. Previous volumes were outstanding for consistently good art throughout. This volume has a distorted or badly drawn panel about every other page, not enough to be a nuisance, but more than enough to be noticeable.

I would also say the story slipped. I know the party is now composed of veterans and they need more powerful enemies, but I found the hell knights and their army of devils to be over kill. The writing wasn't bad, I just couldn't get into the situation for this particular plot.

[Brandon]

Not really a fan of this volume to be honest. The art wasn't as good and has some big slip-ups. The story was fine but a lot less character-driven. It was predictable, and talked a lot but didn't have much to say. Despite how much of the story revolved around Seoni this was mostly about Valeros, and aside from a few panels he didn't have much of value to say either. The Hellknights are cool, I do enjoy their place in Pathfinder lore as LAWFUL alignment above all else, but the overarching villain was pretty boring.

[Carey Healy]

Enjoyable Dungeon Adventure

I found this volume very enjoyable. There isn’t anything deep or intricate here, but there doesn’t need to be for a fun story. Pathfinders continues to craft fun characters with fun and interesting appearances. The art here is good. My only real criticism is that it was a bit too wordy in places and some of the combat encounters were too quick and not memorable.

[E J]

3.5. The first 2 issues were better than the last 3 as it felt increasingly confusing.

[Tom]

The art is a little lower than average, the story is a little above average. Some of the plot specifics are a little silly, but I will accept the characters lampshading them as sufficient apology.

[Alfonso Cavarero]

I't's a 3,5..continue the saga of the Varisian heroes and their retinue...
As usual,beautiful work of art and interesting plots,which also develop a little more about the characters of Seoni the sorcerer and the fighter Valeros...
It depicts also their first contact(or should I say contrast..?)with a hell of an organization like the Hellknights!!
Now..things should became more interesting than ever,with......Runelords arriving....;)
Keep forward to it..!

[Thomas]

The next trade in the series following some of the Pathfinder crew, lots of action, humor, and for rpg folks, some cool ideas. A bonus of some adventure seeds and the hard copy has maps. This is a good series, check it out.