25 August

Now You Know: The End of Pathfinder Adventure Path Monthly Volumes

Written by Ryan Costello

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Pathfinder Adventure Paths have always been numbered, but now their days are as well.

On last week’s Paizo Live, Paizo associate publisher Thurston Hillman, Director of Narrative Adam Daigle, and Pathfinder Narrative Creative Director James Jacobs joined Publisher Erik Mona to talk about Pathfinder adventures. After waxing nostalgic about everyone’s favourite individual module of the Pathfinder Adventure Path line, Mona announced that November’s Pathfinder Adventure Path #221: Into the Apocalypse Archive (Revenge of the Runelords 3 of 3) will be the last monthly volume. Starting in March 2026, the Adventure Path line changes to a quarterly hardcover all-in-one adventure module series.

This isn’t a huge surprise. Starfinder adventures moved away from the subscription model long ago, and Paizo released increasingly more Pathfinder Adventure Path compilations in recent years. Obviously, this isn’t a decision Paizo took lightly. Just listening to the fondness in the voices of the Paizo staff as they shared their memories writing and playing in or GMing past Adventure Paths shows their reverence for the line. The hobby and the industry it supports changes, and Paizo has always been good at anticipating when and how to change with it.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t get nostalgic for what we’re losing.

The Pathfinder Adventure Path line launched in August 2007 at Gen Con with Burnt Offerings, the first module in the Rise of the Runelords series and the first Paizo product with the Pathfinder name on it. It was the evolution of Paizo’s run on Dungeon (and, to a lesser extent, Dragon) magazine since 2002. WotC choosing not to renew Paizo’s contract meant the company needed to pivot, and a line of monthly adventures that loyal gamers could subscribe to was the combination of predictable revenue stream and creative output the company needed.

Rise of the Runelords did more than just keep the lights on for Paizo. It became an instant classic. Burnt Offerings gave gamers a familiar and generic yet rejuvenated fantasy campaign world, Golarion. Everything from the art and writing to their take on goblins and the introduction of the Runelords intrigued gamers. Paizo made it clear that the world was bigger than what players saw in these six adventures. A lot bigger.

Since then, the Adventure Path line did a lot of the heavy lifting in establishing the Pathfinder campaign setting. These adventures contextualized the world, letting players experience it through their PCs’ eyes. The care Paizo put into the line made it easy for Pathfinder enthusiasts to invest in this world, this line, and this company.

From the design side, the Adventure Path line also represented goals for freelance writers hoping to work on Pathfinder. Many of Pathfinder’s favourite and most prolific writers began with articles in the back matter of Adventure Path modules. Graduating to work on an adventure for the Adventure Path line was one of the greatest endorsements of a writer’s talents.

I have a small fraction of experience with the Adventure Path line when compared to the average Pathfinder enthusiast or freelancer, and yet this transition hits me in the feels. I can only imagine how much it affects those who have played in and written for more Adventure Path volumes than me. After all, this line inspired most, if not all, contributors to the Know Direction Network.

Speaking of the Know Direction Network, here’s what we put out last week, and the content you can look forward to this week:

Review of August 18th to August 22nd

What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com?

Monday, August 18th, 2025

Intrepid Heroes 165 – Murder in Metal City Session 0

Jason Keeley is back in the GM chair, this time running the Starfinder 2 adventure Murder in Metal City. Meet the players and learn about their characters in the new season’s session zero episode.

Thursday, August 21st, 2025

Digital Divination 142 – Gen Con Recap and Ron News

John, Jason, and Ron share their experiences at Gen Con as gamers and industry pros.

Friday, August 8th, 2025

Upshift 048: Behind Essential Builds

Charles needs a new Essence20 character, so he taps me to learn about the character creation methodology I use for my blog, Essential Builds.