AUTHOR: JASON TONDRO / PUBLISHER: PAIZO INC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Circuses are always an excellent source of ideas for stories. There’s plenty to be hidden inside a big top, and the nomadic nature of a travelling show allows for all sort of new threats and challenges. The Extinction Curse story path is a set of adventures for the Pathfinder roleplaying game that sees the players as the crew of the Circus of Wayward Wonders.
The Show Must Go On is the first instalment in this six-part story and is intended for low level characters. The arc-plot for this campaign is one that is suitably epic, one that weaves ancient magics, the corruption of the land and a sinister conspiracy together to form the sort of fantasy epic that you’d find on the New York Times Bestseller’s list. But, of course, this is a table top roleplaying game adventure; you have to tell the actual story yourselves.
The book does provide you with pretty much everything you need and the whole thing is extremely well laid out and considered. It’s not quite an off-the-shelf campaign; you will need to do a little work to fit it in with your gaming table. We strongly advise that you read the whole thing first before making characters; there are some really cool encounters here and you’ll want to encourage your players to make best use of the premise if you can (or modify the adventure if you can’t).
The story starts off in fine form and provides some suitably ‘circus-like’ encounters, including nervous artists, a lost circus bear, and angry drunks. The campaign quickly follows into deeper mystery and will have the players exploring dark lore and deep places in order to get to the bottom of all the trouble. Essentially, the Circus functions as the home base for your usual sort of adventuring party (and their antics), but its mobile base.
The Show Must Go On also contains rules and guidance for running the circus and even includes a sheet for putting the schedule of acts on. We get rules for feats, weapons, spells and the like that are appropriate to the setting also. Overall, a great idea for a series of adventures that has been very well executed.
