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Pathfinder Tales
The Compass Stone: The Collected Journals of Eando Kline
When Pathfinder Eando Kline, traveling scholar and adventurer extraordinaire, comes across a strange and magical ioun stone, the discovery starts him on a quest unlike any he's undertaken before. In following the stone's mysterious directions, he'll be forced to cross the dangerous frontier region of Varisia, the orc-held territories of Belkzen, and the deadly and monster-infested tunnels of the Darklands. Along the way, friends will be made—and friends will be lost. Yet when he finally reaches his journey's end, he may find himself losing the one thing that matters most to him.
Originally published over the course of three Pathfinder Adventure Paths (Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Second Darkness), this collaborative novel contains the collected journals of Eando Kline, telling his story in his own words. Curating his immortal prose are authors Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, Michael Kortes, Mike McArtor, Erik Mona, Richard Pett, Amber Scott, James L. Sutter, Jay Thompson, Greg A. Vaughan, all edited by James L. Sutter. Also includes tons of informational sidebars on the Pathfinder campaign setting, plus game statistics for Eando himself, and more!
Originally published over the course of three Pathfinder Adventure Paths (Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Second Darkness), this collaborative novel contains the collected journals of Eando Kline, telling his story in his own words. Curating his immortal prose are authors Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, Michael Kortes, Mike McArtor, Erik Mona, Richard Pett, Amber Scott, James L. Sutter, Jay Thompson, Greg A. Vaughan, all edited by James L. Sutter. Also includes tons of informational sidebars on the Pathfinder campaign setting, plus game statistics for Eando himself, and more!
112 pages, ebook
First published August 1, 2007
118 people want to read
About the author
James L. Sutter
116 books209 followersJames L. Sutter is a co-creator of the best-selling Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games. He’s the author of the young adult romance novels DARKHEARTS and THE GHOST OF US, as well as the fantasy novels DEATH'S HERETIC and THE REDEMPTION ENGINE. His short stories have appeared in Nightmare, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the #1 Amazon best-seller Machine of Death, and more. James lives in Seattle, where he's performed with musical acts ranging from metalcore to musical theater.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 22, 2024
I distinctly remember telling myself no more collection reviews, or at least to break them down into individual book reviews, but alas.
The Compass Stone: The Collected Journals of Eando Kline is an interesting case due to how it came to be. As described in the preamble all these chapters were originally published over the course of multiple Adventure Paths for the Pathfinder RPG with quite a few authors contributing. There are some leftovers you wouldn't really find in typical licensed fiction like referencing books some of the monsters come from, artwork to immerse you further as you read, or even providing our protagonist's character sheet with statistics in case you ever wanted to use him in your own game. Speaking of which...
What we have ourselves is essentially a travel journal chronicling a particular set of adventures of one Eando Kline, Pathfinder of the eponymous Society. He will go into what the group is from time to time, but the gist of it is Eando finds this odd ioun stone that fits into his wayfinder compass and due to circumstances of its discovery, more because he faces opposition determined to take the thing away from him, sets out on a crazy adventure following the little needle. As far as premises go it's not a strong one, but our boy builds up his own determination to continue as along the way he makes hard choices and sacrifices that test who and what he is.
If there's a welcome distinction to this collection setting it up apart from typical fantasy fare it would have to be the fact we get to visit evil places, both ambiguous and otherwise. Wherever Eando goes, from former dwarven city now captured and occupied by orcs to dangerous frontier of Varisia, he is never in a comfortable position. And it only gets worse from there. Sheer survival depends on using every Pathfinder skill he has acquired since teenage days. The further we get the more obvious it becomes our protagonist is a worldly individual equally comfortable with erudite pursuits as well as kicking you in the shin to make his getaway. Which makes me question whether putting him through the ringer to make the hardest decision one can multiple times was a good call. Doubly so because by very nature of being a collection the latter sections end up mattering a lot more when story enters its "final phase" not exactly hinted toward at any earlier entries.
Much of the shortcomings of The Compass Stone are likely attributed to the fact there was a minivan worth of writers involved. Not to say there are obvious continuity errors or blatant oscillations in quality, but you never get that overarching pacing. Legs of the journey are largely self-contained with references and callbacks where appropriate. You can tell the middle ones could've been shifted around however you wanted and everything would've still worked out. I was slightly amused when "and there I was tracking my target for X number of weeks" got invoked multiple times. This IS a travel journal through and through, however. If you're not familiar with the world of Golarian or Pathfinder at large you have a decent primer here. Don't expect much character development beyond Eando until the very end as everyone else is there to help or hinder him in the current arc.
For my taste there was a bit too much circling around the X on the map and lack of proper antagonist until the final stretch didn't help. Very digestible read, likeable rogue-ish protagonist and ties to the roleplaying game could weigh in favor of checking this one out.
The Compass Stone: The Collected Journals of Eando Kline is an interesting case due to how it came to be. As described in the preamble all these chapters were originally published over the course of multiple Adventure Paths for the Pathfinder RPG with quite a few authors contributing. There are some leftovers you wouldn't really find in typical licensed fiction like referencing books some of the monsters come from, artwork to immerse you further as you read, or even providing our protagonist's character sheet with statistics in case you ever wanted to use him in your own game. Speaking of which...
What we have ourselves is essentially a travel journal chronicling a particular set of adventures of one Eando Kline, Pathfinder of the eponymous Society. He will go into what the group is from time to time, but the gist of it is Eando finds this odd ioun stone that fits into his wayfinder compass and due to circumstances of its discovery, more because he faces opposition determined to take the thing away from him, sets out on a crazy adventure following the little needle. As far as premises go it's not a strong one, but our boy builds up his own determination to continue as along the way he makes hard choices and sacrifices that test who and what he is.
If there's a welcome distinction to this collection setting it up apart from typical fantasy fare it would have to be the fact we get to visit evil places, both ambiguous and otherwise. Wherever Eando goes, from former dwarven city now captured and occupied by orcs to dangerous frontier of Varisia, he is never in a comfortable position. And it only gets worse from there. Sheer survival depends on using every Pathfinder skill he has acquired since teenage days. The further we get the more obvious it becomes our protagonist is a worldly individual equally comfortable with erudite pursuits as well as kicking you in the shin to make his getaway. Which makes me question whether putting him through the ringer to make the hardest decision one can multiple times was a good call. Doubly so because by very nature of being a collection the latter sections end up mattering a lot more when story enters its "final phase" not exactly hinted toward at any earlier entries.
Much of the shortcomings of The Compass Stone are likely attributed to the fact there was a minivan worth of writers involved. Not to say there are obvious continuity errors or blatant oscillations in quality, but you never get that overarching pacing. Legs of the journey are largely self-contained with references and callbacks where appropriate. You can tell the middle ones could've been shifted around however you wanted and everything would've still worked out. I was slightly amused when "and there I was tracking my target for X number of weeks" got invoked multiple times. This IS a travel journal through and through, however. If you're not familiar with the world of Golarian or Pathfinder at large you have a decent primer here. Don't expect much character development beyond Eando until the very end as everyone else is there to help or hinder him in the current arc.
For my taste there was a bit too much circling around the X on the map and lack of proper antagonist until the final stretch didn't help. Very digestible read, likeable rogue-ish protagonist and ties to the roleplaying game could weigh in favor of checking this one out.
January 28, 2014
There isn't anything too spectacular in this first collection of the Pathfinder Journals. The story is decidedly average, but the lore and geographical information will be invaluable for fans of the Pathfinder role playing game.
August 20, 2015
I absolutely loved the journal style of telling this characters story. It makes me yearn for journals from all the other characters in PathfinderTales.
February 10, 2024
A very unspectacular collection of workmanlike stories, which should have been a novel (since they all share a narrative arc), preferably written by someone else than the ones gathered here. This was mostly an exercise in checking off the canonical species, organizations and spells, very much in-your-face about that, so it couldn't possibly engage with a reader in search of an adventure, as adventures rarely follow such an inventory-based approach.
May 12, 2021
Interesting introductions to areas in the Pathfinder world. For the most part, the various author voices felt connected. It is hard to do journal entries by different authors and get the right voice all the time.
Taken as a single adventure, this works well in storytelling and you see the progression of character of Eando.
Taken as a single adventure, this works well in storytelling and you see the progression of character of Eando.
September 25, 2020
Okay, pretty standard. Not really a great story and Eando doesn't development much as a character or grab you. It's much more about the travels through Golarion and a brief intro to other areas. Nothing really wrong with it. Just a pretty average fantasy read.
May 20, 2024
I absolutely loved the journal style of telling this characters story. It makes me yearn for journals from all the other characters in PathfinderTales.
February 16, 2017
This took me years to finally finished. Kline's a jerk, but enjoyable nonetheless.
January 23, 2014
This was an OK story for me. At times I felt it had a goal of the protagonist visiting every country in Golarion. It almost seemed like a checklist near the end.
April 7, 2024
Not bad but a good intro to the Pathfinder world
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews