Pathfinder Pawns: "Rise of the Runelords Pawn Collection" [RPG]

MINOR SPOILERS for Rise of the Runelords

If you don't know, "pawns" are double-sided images of monsters or NPCs printed on cardstock, designed to stand vertically with a plastic base that's the same size as the creature (so a Large-size monster with sit on a 2x2 base and its pawn will be bigger than a Small-size creature, for example).  Pawns aren't as good as true three-dimensional miniatures, but they're a lot cheaper and are still better than simple flat tokens.

The Rise of the Runelords Pawn Collection contains around a hundred and fifty pawns with sizes ranging from Small all the way up to the Huge.  The artwork for creatures and NPCs unique to the adventure path comes from the Anniversary Edition hardcover collection, and it's fantastic.  The set also includes several pawns for creatures that appear in the AP but aren't unique to it, and the artwork for these pawns comes from the creature's Bestiary entry.  Each pawn is numbered and labeled, and there's a list on the back, which makes sorting pretty easy (I use ziplock bags).  The set *doesn't* come with bases, which is an important point for someone who doesn't have any other Paizo pawn sets.

The physical quality of the pawns is high.  I'm writing this review at the halfway point of the AP, so I've used the set in about 50 sessions so far--all of the pawns are still in good shape, with no tears, bent corners, etc.  They fit well with standard Paizo bases and are quite colorful.

Perhaps the most important thing to ask is how well simplify GM prep: in other words, are the pawns that are included of the right type and number to handle encounters in the AP?  I'm at exactly the halfway point of the AP, so I think I have a pretty good sense of how much coverage there is, and my verdict would be: it's very hit or miss.  The set is great on including pawns for "bosses" unique to the AP and some NPCs--as a rough guide, if there's a full colour illustration of the monster/NPC in the book, there's probably a pawn included in the set.  For more normal encounters, however, the set is unpredictable and the choices made of what (and how many) to include of different creatures doesn't follow a consistent pattern.  For example, the set comes with 8 rat swarms which is plenty for any encounter listed in the book, but doesn't come with any shadows and only 1 yeth hound which complicates planning for those encounters in Thistletop; it includes 4 ogre pawns, which sounds great, but there's an encounter in the Kreeg Clanhold with ten ogres simultaneously.  Etc.  I'm not complaining so much as trying to make it clear that owning this collection (even along with the Bestiary pawn box) doesn't mean that every pawn needed for the game will be at your fingertips: you're still going to have to make homemade tokens or cobble together substitutes for many encounters.  In addition, the collection doesn't include any creatures that appear on the AP's random encounter tables (unless those creatures also appear in planned encounters).

In the end, I can give a partial endorsement to the collection.  It contains enough to make it worthwhile, but not so much to make it a must-have.