paizo.com - Paizo / Paizo Blog / Tags / Open Call

Now Accepting Adventures!*

Thursday, November 19, 2009

*Sort of.

Beginning today, I am opening the door to the Pathfinder Society Organized Play open call not for a week but for a long, unspecified length of time. I am looking for three specific types of adventures (detailed below) for Pathfinder Society. I am NOT seeking generic Pathfinder RPG adventures nor am I asking you to pitch me a new Pathfinder Adventure Path. Any submissions that aren't specifically for Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenarios will be ignored.

Instead of asking you to send me a 750-word outline, I'm asking you to send completed adventures. A completed adventure cannot exceed 12,000 words and must (MUST!) follow the style for a Pathfinder Society Organized Play adventure scenario as established by the Season 1 scenarios. Those of you not brave enough to send a completed adventure can instead send me a short (less than 500 words) query instead that quickly describes the adventure. I will review completed adventures and queries as I receive them and respond appropriately. If I receive one that I like (especially if I receive a completed adventure that I like), I will likely give that author a contract and pay him or her for the adventure. If I receive one that I 80% like, I will likely ask that author to rewrite elements and resubmit for possible future publication. There is no guarantee at any point in this process that I will give you a contract and pay you for your work.

By making the opening the open call for a longer period of time, I hope to see an increase in the quality and volume of submissions. Paizo uses the Pathfinder Society Organized Play open calls to find new talent for our other product lines—maybe that new talent is you!

And now for some rules:

Rules of Submitting for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play Open Call

1. Only submit Pathfinder Society scenarios or scenario ideas. I won't even respond to other queries.

2. If you submit a complete 12,000-word adventure, you must include a scan of this PDF with your signature on it with your submission. If your submission lacks this PDF, it will be rejected without being read. The PDF is NOT necessary for 500-word queries.

3. All submissions must be made via email to pathfindersociety@paizo.com.

4. Your submission must be in .doc, .rtf, or .txt format.

5. Your submission must include your full legal name, physical mailing address, email address, and a contact phone number on the top of the first page. This does not count toward word count.

6. Your submission file (not the agreement PDF) must be named LASTNAME_TITLE.EXTENSION such as FROST_AMONGSTTHELIVING.doc.

7. The subject line of your submission email must be labeled the same: LASTNAME TITLE.

8. Allow 72 hours for a response before resubmitting. Allow for more time on a holiday weekend.

9. Read at least one season 1 scenario (you probably want to read all of them) before submitting. I can usually tell in about the first 50 words if you've actually read or played in a scenario.

10. Failure to follow any of the above rules will result in a rejection.

General Guidelines
Here are a few tips for your scenarios or scenario ideas:

1. Use our setting details to make your own story, don't cram your story so full of our canon that it reads like a Frankenstein's monster of other authors' work. Read this post for an example.

2. Understand that Pathfinder Society is not a good-aligned organization, nor is it evil. Also understand that evil characters are not allowed in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Also understand that all scenarios must be PG-13.

3. Avoid child endangerment stories. It's cheap, it's trite, and I'm tired of reading them.

4. Not really looking for comedies.

5. I am really looking for high adventure stories with drama, action, and roleplay.

6. Speaking of roleplay, I'd love for someone to knock me dead with a good murder mystery scenario. And I mean really good in the sense that after 4 hours of game play at a convention every class of player walks away from the table satisfied. Tall order, I know, but I'd love to see it happen.

7. #5 and #6 do not mean that all I want to see are high adventure stories and murder mysteries. If you have a really good idea that's neither of those two, I want to see it.

8. Only send me your best ideas and your (very important) BEST-WRITTEN ideas. You may send more than one idea.

9. NO EASTER EGGS. What I mean by that is this: don't be cute and include a reference to your favorite comic book/movie/song/etc. If we catch it, you're done. If we don't catch it, we could get the pants sued off of us. Just don't do it.

10. Passive voice is a rejection in the making. Read this website and this thread to understand passive voice.

11. Read this post. And this thread.

What Pathfinder Society is Currently Seeking
We need the following adventure submissions for Pathfinder Society Organized Play:

1. Tier 1–5 scenario set in Absalom.

2. Tier 1–5 scenario set in Qadira.

3. Tier 1–7 scenario set in Absalom.

Good luck!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call Submissions Close in One Week!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Hey there future scenario authors! Don't forget that the open call for Pathfinder Society Organized Play closes on Friday, October 30 at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time. Below are the details. Good luck!

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:

a. A title (if necessary, some times they are already titled)
b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario
c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter
d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum six encounters with one encounter detailed as optional
e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_ YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, or a Plain Text or Rich Text Format file—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_17_Dayon.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenario 45—one of the March 2010 releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

10/15/09—Open call begins

10/30/09—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

11/9/09 through 11/13/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario 45 Title: none; up to the author
Setting: Absalom
Story: The Minotaur Prince of Absalom has been kidnapped (see pages 35–36, Guide to Absalom). Why has he been kidnapped? Who did it? Why does the Pathfinder Society care? Your submission must include Grandmaster Torch (see Pathfinder Society scenarios #1 and #14) in one form or another—it's up to you how much of a role he plays.
Level Range: Tier 1–5; Tiers 1–2 and 4–5

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Pathfinder RPG Open Call for Pathfinder Society Organized Play

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Hello and welcome to another installment of the Pathfinder Society scenario open call using the new Pathfinder RPG rules! Most months we'll open one of our Pathfinder Society scenarios to you, the general public, to search for new authors and new ideas for use in Paizo's worldwide organized play campaign. We're looking for authors who have a clear and concise writing style, who have solid and creative ideas for adventures, and who are capable in every way of following instructions and meeting deadlines. And while we're seeking new authors through this process, we certainly encourage previously published authors to participate as well.

Speaking of new authors, special congratulations go to paizo.com messageboard regular Yoda8MyHead, who was selected as the author for the previous open call. His scenario, #43: The Pallid Plague, will come out this February. Be sure to pop into the Pathfinder Society messageboards and congratulate Yoda on this assignment!

As always, keep the following guidelines in mind when submitting:

1. Don't break our world. If you submit something that breaks part of our world, it'll be auto-rejected. The scenarios are 4-hour adventures—epic story arcs, world-shattering events, wars, mass famine, etc. don't have a place in them.

2. Understand Pathfinder Society Organized Play before you submit. Specifically, understand that the Pathfinder Society is an organization of vagabond scholars, thrill-seeking treasure hunters, and extreme explorers. They are not necessarily the "good guys," they don't get "hired" for their adventures, and they're not generally looking to make the world a better place. Submitting generic 3.5 "save the day" adventure ideas will decrease your chances of getting to write one. There are plenty of resources out there to give you a feel for the Society: the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #1, and the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting all have information on the Pathfinder Society.

3. Read one or two scenarios before submitting (particularly 29 through 32).

4. Pathfinder Society Scenarios must be no more offensive than PG-13. Scenarios are played in public at public settings and children will be playing them. Submissions that include violence toward children will be auto-rejected.

5. This is not a contest. This is more like an interview for a job—you're showing me your best idea and I'm deciding if the combination of your idea and writing skill equals you being selected as our next scenario author. We need authors—not winners. And I really want to stress the author part of that. Only send me your best work that is reflective of your writing style. I can teach someone the rules system—I can't teach someone to write.

6. I don't have time to return every submission with feedback. Feel free to post your rejected proposals to the Pathfinder Society messageboards for peer review. For those of you not submitting, please give feedback to those who do and are rejected.

7. Lastly, I posted some general feedback on recent submissions here. Please read that thread before submitting.

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:

a. A title (if necessary, some times they are already titled)
b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario
c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter
d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum six encounters with one encounter detailed as optional
e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_ YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, or a Plain Text or Rich Text Format file—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_17_Dayon.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenario 45—one of the March 2010 releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

10/15/09—Open call begins

10/30/09—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

11/9/09 through 11/13/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario 45

Title: none; up to the author
Setting: Absalom
Story: The Minotaur Prince of Absalom has been kidnapped (see pages 35–36, Guide to Absalom ). Why has he been kidnapped? Who did it? Why does the Pathfinder Society care? Your submission must include Grandmaster Torch (see Pathfinder Society scenarios #1 and #14) in one form or another—it's up to you how much of a roll he plays.
Level Range: Tier 1–5; Tiers 1–2 and 4–5

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call Submissions Close in One Week!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Hey there future scenario authors! Don't forget that the open call for Pathfinder Society Organized Play closes on Friday, October 2 at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time. Below are the details. Good luck!

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:

a. A title (if necessary, some times they are already titled)
b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario
c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter
d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum six encounters with one encounter detailed as optional
e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_ YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, or a Plain Text or Rich Text Format file—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_17_Dayon.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenario 43—one of the February 2010 releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

9/17/09—Open call begins

10/2/09—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

10/12/09 through 10/16/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario 43
Title: none; up to the author
Setting: Falcon's Hollow, Andoran
Level Range: Tier 1–7; Tiers 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Pathfinder RPG Open Call for Pathfinder Society Organized Play

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Hello and welcome to the first installment of the Pathfinder Society scenario open call using the new Pathfinder RPG rules! Most months we'll open one of our Pathfinder Society scenarios to you, the general public, to search for new authors and new ideas for use in Paizo's worldwide organized play campaign. We're looking for authors who have a clear and concise writing style, who have solid and creative ideas for adventures, and who are capable in every way of following instructions and meeting deadlines. And while we're seeking new authors through this process, we certainly encourage previously published authors to participate as well.

As always, keep the following guidelines in mind when submitting:

1. Don't break our world. If you submit something that breaks part of our world, it'll be auto-rejected. The scenarios are 4-hour adventures—epic story arcs, world-shattering events, wars, mass famine, etc. don't have a place in them.

2. Understand Pathfinder Society Organized Play before you submit. Specifically, understand that the Pathfinder Society is an organization of vagabond scholars, thrill-seeking treasure hunters, and extreme explorers. They are not necessarily the "good guys," they don't get "hired" for their adventures, and they're not generally looking to make the world a better place. Submitting generic 3.5 "save the day" adventure ideas will decrease your chances of getting to write one. There are plenty of resources out there to give you a feel for the Society: the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Pathfinder #1, and the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting all have information on the Pathfinder Society.

3. Read one or two scenarios before submitting (particularly 29 through 32).

4. Pathfinder Society Scenarios must be no more offensive than PG-13. Scenarios are played in public at public settings and children will be playing them. Submissions that include violence toward children will be auto-rejected.

5. This is not a contest. This is more like an interview for a job—you're showing me your best idea and I'm deciding if the combination of your idea and writing skill equals you being selected as our next scenario author. We need authors—not winners. And I really want to stress the author part of that. Only send me your best work that is reflective of your writing style. I can teach someone the rules system—I can't teach someone to write.

6. I don't have time to return every submission with feedback. Feel free to post your rejected proposals to the Pathfinder Society messageboards for peer review. For those of you not submitting, please give feedback to those who do and are rejected.

7. Lastly, I posted some general feedback on recent submissions here. Please read that thread before submitting.

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:

a. A title (if necessary, some times they are already titled)
b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario
c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter
d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum six encounters with one encounter detailed as optional
e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_ YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, or a Plain Text or Rich Text Format file—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_17_Dayon.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenario 43—one of the February 2010 releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

9/17/09—Open call begins

10/2/09—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

10/12/09 through 10/16/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario 43
Title: none; up to the author
Setting: Falcon's Hollow, Andoran
Level Range: Tier 1–7; Tiers 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Presenting the Gen Con 2009 Scenarios!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I've spent a huge portion of this week thinking about and planning for Gen Con 2009. As most of you know, we're launching the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game at Gen Con, which means we're also kicking off Season 1 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The first slot of the show, Thursday morning, will be a character creation/conversion seminar with Paizo employees and volunteer GMs who have all seen the rules ahead of time and will be available to answer questions and help you either build a new character or follow our soon-to-be-released conversion guidelines for Season 1. We'll cut everyone loose before the dealer hall opens so they can hop in what will assuredly be a long line for the RPG hardcover itself and then let everyone flow back to the Org Play area to finish their characters alongside their shiny new (possibly autographed) Pathfinder Roleplaying Game books.

The real fun kicks off Thursday afternoon when we launch Season 1 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play! We have four outstanding scenarios written by four outstanding scenario authors (if I do say so myself) who will all be in attendance at Gen Con and will likely GM their own scenarios once or twice as surprise GMs throughout the show. Tim Hitchcock and the Werecabbages are brewing a brilliant Friday and Saturday night interactive event for the Pathfinder Society that I cannot reveal the details about yet as the lycanthropic vegetable club would stake me and eat my brains for doing so. Rest assured, when Tim pitched me the idea, I ran screaming through the office declaring it the best idea since horseshoes.

Here are some quick summaries of the four scenarios we'll be running at Gen Con 2009:

Pathfinder Society Scenario 29:
The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats (Tiers 1–7) by Joshua J. Frost
When simultaneous kidnappings of Pathfinder and Aspis Consortium agents rock Cassomir's imperial shipyards, the Society orders you to join forces with hated Aspis agents to solve the mystery. Can you work together with the enemies of the Society to uncover the source of the kidnappings, or will you perish in the shipyards of Cassomir? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 30:
The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker (Tiers 1–7) by Joshua J. Frost
The Pathfinder Society dispatches you into the catacombs beneath the shipyards known as Cassomir's Locker to uncover the source of a shamanistic rat cult that's breeding monstrous vermin never before seen on Golarion. After thwarting a double-cross and delving into the dirty dungeons below, will you find the artifact that powers Cassomir's Locker in time or will you bring about the destruction of Taldor's most important port? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 31:
Sniper in the Deep (Tiers 5–9) by David Eitelbach & Hank Woon
When rumors stir of a hidden treasure ship in Absalom's Flotsam Graveyard, the Pathfinder Society sends you beneath the Inner Sea to investigate. Mayhem, undersea adventure, and chaos are to be had in this rousing rampage beneath the roiling waters of Absalom's harbor. Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 32:
Drow of the Darklands Pyramid (Tiers 7–11) by Sean K Reynolds
A rogue band of drow are plaguing the artifact shipping lanes of Osirion and the Pathfinder Society has sent you to stop them. When the drow capture an entire caravan laden with Society relics, the Decemvirate orders you into the Darklands to track down the drow and their stolen cargo. You'll travel beneath Golarion, fighting through caverns of hideous creatures to reach the fabled Darklands Pyramid—will your survive the journey, or become a slave forever? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Lastly, I want to congratulate the selectees for the final 3.5 Pathfinder Society Organized Play Open Call: Elizabeth Leib and James MacKenzie! They're writing #28 Lyrics of Extinction and #27 Our Lady of Silver respectively. Congratulations!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call for Pathfinder Society Scenarios 27 & 28

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Hello and welcome to another installment of the Pathfinder Society Scenario Open Call. Last week I selected the authors for scenarios #23 and #24 and they are, respectively: Steven Robert (Tide of Morning) and Tim Hitchcock (The Decline of Glory). Congratulations, guys!

That brings us to the open call round for #27 and #28 (#25 and #26 were assigned). This month's open call is the last open call for OGL 3.5 and the last open call until September. I'll repeat that: this is the last open call until September. So if you're waiting to get involved or submit, this is your last chance for a while. With the launch of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the fact that we have to start writing scenarios with the new rules in the next few months, we've decided to assign the first PRPG scenarios to current scenario authors who could include those authors selected to write #27 and #28.

As always, keep the following guidelines in mind when submitting:

1. Don't break our world. If you submit something that breaks part of our world, it'll be auto-rejected. The scenarios are one-shot, 4-hour adventures—epic story arcs, world-shattering events, wars, mass famine, etc. don't have a place in them.

2. Understand Pathfinder Society Organized Play before you submit. Specifically, understand that the Pathfinder Society is an organization of vagabond scholars, thrill-seeking treasure hunters, and extreme explorers. They are not necessarily the "good guys," they don't get "hired" for their adventures, and they're not generally looking to make the world a better place. Submitting generic 3.5 "save the day" adventure ideas will decrease your chances of getting to write one. There are plenty of resources out there to give you a feel for the Society: the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #1, and the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting all have information on the Pathfinder Society.

3. I need to feel that you've read or played a few scenarios before submitting. I'll get this sense through your proposal—our scenarios have a very specific flow to them and your outline should follow this flow. Read one or two before submitting.

4. Pathfinder Society Scenarios must be no more offensive than PG-13. Scenarios are played in public at public settings and children will be playing them. No more submissions that include violence toward children, please.

5. This is not a contest. This is more like an interview for a job—you're showing me your best idea and I'm deciding if the combination of idea and writing skill equals you being selected as our next scenario author. I need authors—not winners. And I really want to stress the author part of that. Only send me your best work that is reflective of your writing style. I can teach someone the rules system—I can't teach someone to write.

6. I just don't have time to return every submission with feedback. Feel free to post your rejected proposals to the Pathfinder Society messageboards for peer review. For those of you not submitting, please give feedback to those who do and are rejected.

7. Lastly, I posted some general feedback on recent submissions here. Please read that thread before submitting. It'll help. I promise.

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society Scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:

a. A title
b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario
c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter
d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum five encounters
e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed
f. You no longer need to submit mission ideas with your outline

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, Notepad, or Real Text format—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_SCENARIO#_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_17_Dayon.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenarios 27 & 28—the July releases and last OGL 3.5 scenarios. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

• 2/12/09—Open call begins
• 2/20/09—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time
• 3/6/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario #27
Suggested Title: Our Lady of Silver
Setting: Qadiran City (political intrigue scenario that pits wealthy merchant lords against one another)
Monster: Open
Level Range: Tier 5–9; tiers 5–6 and 8–9

Pathfinder Society Scenario #28
Suggested Title: Lyrics of Extinction
Setting: Mwangi Expanse (ancient culture destroyed by fell song—travel to the ruins to recover a copy of it)
Monster: Open
Level Range: Tier 7–11; tiers 7–8 and 10–11

PLEASE NOTE: Pathfinder Society Scenarios are written with a 4-hour time limit in mind. Your outline should reflect 4 hours of solid game play.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Didn't Make the RPG Superstar Top 32? Try Pathfinder Society!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

The 2009 RPG Superstar contest drew in hundreds of entries from around the world in a contest to crown the ultimate new roleplaying game design talent. It took the judges six weeks to reduce the mountain of entries to the 32 finalists and a handful of alternates. That means hundreds of you didn't make it into the RPG Superstar Top 32—that means that hundreds of you should submit for the Pathfinder Society Scenario Open Call!

You submitted to RPG Superstar not only hoping to win an RPG Design contest, but also hoping to get a chance to see your name on a Pathfinder Module sitting on the shelf at your local game store. Pathfinder Society Scenarios may not be sold in stores, but getting your name on one is no less prestigious—you get to see your name on a product being used in hundreds, maybe even thousands, of organized play tables around the world.

Alternatively, and perhaps even more importantly, being selected to write a scenario for Pathfinder Society Organized Play does one other thing for you: it gets your foot in the door. Write a good scenario, one that blows me away with its writing style, imagery, ideas, and maps, and I'll be in the editorial pit the moment after I read it saying, "This is the person you want for X assignment!" Writing a scenario gets you noticed, may get you additional writing work, and keeps you fresh in our minds when thinking of new talent to tap for new projects.

Our current open call runs through midnight tomorrow—plenty of time to get a submission in for at least one of them! I hope to see yours in the submission stack.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call: Mappers Wanted!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I'm on a crusade.

Writing adventures and sourcebooks for RPGs is tough. It takes a lot of different skills; you have to be a good writer, you have to be imaginative and creative, you have to be diligent and good with deadlines and continuity, and you have to have a head for rules and math. Truth be told, it's not all the skills you need to be a successful adventure or setting designer. You also need to be able to draw maps.

Just as with the words of a product, which are developed and edited before they ever see print, the author's maps are rebuilt and redrawn by professional cartographers. Those cartographers don't actually create the maps you see in adventures out of the blue themselves—they need the author's rough draft as a starting point. And when an author's rough draft is illegible or boring, you have problems similar to what an editor might face when a manuscript arrives that's riddled with spelling errors, bad stat blocks, unfinished sentences, and other problems. In cases where we get in maps that are illegible, one of us at Paizo generally has to redraw the map before we send it on to the cartographer.

Pictured here are four map turnovers for different locations that Wes and I created for adventures we've written for Pathfinder (spoiler warning to players: If you're playing in Rise of the Runelords or Second Darkness, AVERT YOUR GAZE!). Going forward, I'm looking at alternate ways to get excellent map turnovers—we've got a few unannounced products that are pretty map heavy, and I'm considering farming out the maps as separate freelance projects. But in order to do that, I need to find some people who can draw cool maps.

So here's the open call part. If you're good at drawing maps, and are interested in helping Paizo have awesome maps in its products, I would love to see some of your maps. Look at the four sample maps here and try to outdo them. While the sample maps are of cities, dungeons, and wilderness locations (and while I'd love to see maps of all three locations from you), I'm in particular looking for awesome city maps. Send in your map as an email attachment to me at james.jacobs@paizo.com. The maps don't need to be particularly high resolution, but they should certainly be legible. The subjects of the maps can be anything you want—and keep in mind I'm not looking for actual finished, publishable-quality maps—if you're THAT skilled at maps, you should probably send your cartography resume to our art directors!

Try to keep your maps to one map per email, and try to limit your submissions to, at most, one map per category (dungeon, wilderness, or city). I'll do my best to give brief replies to folks' map turnovers as well, and in the end I hope to have found a bunch of new folk who can draw great maps. Where this will lead in the end... I'm not sure. It's kind of an experiment.

The deadline for this Open Call is February 9th, 2009. I look forward to seeing what you can do!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Open Call for Pathfinder Society Scenarios 23 & 24

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hello and welcome to another installment of the Pathfinder Society Scenario Open Call. Last week I selected the authors for scenarios #21 and #22 and they are, respectively: C. Robert Brown (The Eternal Obelisk) and Larry Wilhelm (Fingerprints of the Fiend). Congratulations, guys!

That brings us to the open call round for 23 and 24. I'm going to continue with the looser, open format style with some general guidelines. We received far fewer submissions last round than before and I'm hoping that had more to do with RPG Superstar and the holidays than it did with the open format chasing submitters away. Prove me right! As always, keep the following guidelines in mind when submitting:

1. Don't break our world. If you submit something that breaks part of our world, it'll be auto-rejected. The scenarios are one-shot, 4-hour adventures—epic story arcs, world-shattering events, wars, mass famine, etc. don't have a place in them.

2. Understand Pathfinder Society Organized Play before you submit. Specifically, understand that the Pathfinder Society is an organization of vagabond scholars, thrill-seeking treasure hunters, and extreme explorers. They are not necessarily the "good guys," they don't get "hired" for their adventures, and they're not generally looking to make the world a better place. Submitting generic 3.5 "save the day" adventure ideas will decrease your chances of getting to write one. There are plenty of resources out there to give you a feel for the Society: the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Pathfinder #1, and the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting all have information on the Pathfinder Society.

3. I need to feel that you've read or played a few scenarios before submitting. I'll get this sense through your proposal—our scenarios have a very specific flow to them and your outline should follow this flow. Read one or two before submitting.

4. Pathfinder Society Scenarios must be no more offensive than PG-13. Scenarios are played in public at public settings and children will be playing them. No more submissions that include violence toward children, please.

5. This is not a contest. This is more like an interview for a job—you're showing me your best idea and I'm deciding if the combination of idea and writing skill equals you being selected as our next scenario author. I need authors—not winners. And I really want to stress the author part of that. Only send me your best work that is reflective of your writing style. I can teach someone the rules system—I can't teach someone to write.

6. Finally, I just don't have time to return every submission with feedback. Feel free to post your rejected proposals to the Pathfinder Society messageboards for peer review. For those of you not submitting, please give feedback to those who do and are rejected.

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society Scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:
a. A title
b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario
c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter
d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum five encounters
e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed
f. You no longer need to submit mission ideas with your outline
2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_##_YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, Notepad, or Real Text format—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_##_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_17_Dayon. 3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count. 4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.
The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenarios #23 & 24—two of the four June releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

• 1/15/09—Open call begins
• 1/30/09—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time
• 2/6/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario #23
Suggested Title: Tide of Morning
Setting: Andoran wilderness (classic forest adventure archetype suggested)
Monster: Open
Level Range: Tier 1–5; tiers 1–2 and 4–5

Pathfinder Society Scenario #24
Suggested Title: The Decline of Glory
Setting: Taldor frontier (warring gangs, towns-at-war archetype suggested)
Monster: Open
Level Range: Tier 1–7; tiers 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7

PLEASE NOTE: Pathfinder Society Scenarios are written with a 4-hour time limit in mind. Your outline should reflect 4 hours of solid game play.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call for 21 & 22 and New Format

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Before I get into the new open call format as well as the next round of open calls, I want to talk about the submissions for Pathfinder Society Scenarios #19 & 20. I received nearly as many submissions for 19 & 20 as I did for 17 & 18, but the difference this time was that I received almost all of them for 19: Skeleton Moon. The other scenario, 20: Demon Haunts the Devil's Hall, received an incredibly low number of submissions, and after looking through them again and again none of the submissions wowed me sufficiently to select the submitter as the author. I then spent some time thinking about our submissions process and I think our process may be to blame for the reduction in submissions for 20. I asked for 20 to include a non-SRD monster (the nabasu) that many submitters probably weren't familiar with and I asked for no undead (because we've been undead heavy lately) in a scenario where the monster (again, the nabasu) could potentially create undead with one of its powers. These two errors on our part, I believe, led to a serious reduction in submissions and because the pool was so small, there weren't a lot to choose from. In the end, I had to choose none of them. Instead, we've removed Devil's Hall from the schedule, to appear later in season 1, and replaced it with a later scenario I'd planned to assign rather than open. So for the 19 & 20 round, I'll select an author for 19 only and the new 20 will be written by an existing freelancer.

That brings us to the open call round for 21 & 22. I'm going to test a more open format for both, though I'm still going to suggest a few key items on each—items that are necessary either for art resources or simply to keep game play spread around the Inner Sea region. These restrictions will be relatively minor and shouldn't hamper creativity overmuch. I am, however, opening this test with a few caveats:

1. Don't break our world. If you submit something that breaks part of our world, it'll be auto-rejected. The scenarios are one-shot, 4-hour adventures—epic story arcs, world-shattering events, wars, mass famine, etc. don't have a place in them.

2. Understand Pathfinder Society Organized Play before you submit. Specifically, understand that the Pathfinder Society is an organization of vagabond scholars, thrill-seeking treasure hunters, and extreme explorers. They are not necessarily the "good guys," they don't get "hired" for their adventures, and they're not generally looking to make the world a better place. Submitting generic 3.5 "save the day" adventure ideas will decrease your chances of getting to write one. There are plenty of resources out there to give you a feel for the Society: the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Pathfinder #1, and the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting all have information on the Pathfinder Society.

3. I need to feel that you've read or played a few scenarios before submitting. I'll get this sense through your proposal—our scenarios have a very specific flow to them and your outline should follow this flow. Read one or two before submitting.

4. Pathfinder Society scenarios must be no more offensive than PG-13. Scenarios are played in public at public settings and children will be playing them. As an aside, the number of submissions that involve violence toward children is staggering—no more of those, please.

5. This is not a contest. This is more like an interview for a job—you're showing me your best idea and I'm deciding if the combination of idea and writing skill equals you being selected as our next scenario author. I need authors—not winners.

6. Finally, I just don't have time to return every submission with feedback. I did that with the first round, for 17 & 18, and it stretched my resources and time very thin.

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on the guidelines for the current round, write a 750-word outline that includes the following:

a. A title—the more evocative the better

b. A brief introduction that acts as a prologue for the scenario

c. A brief summary of how the PCs proceed through each encounter

d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum five encounters

e. A brief conclusion—what happens if the PCs fail or succeed

f. You no longer need to submit mission ideas with your outline

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line SCENARIO NAME_YOURLASTNAME. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, Notepad, or Real Text format—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled SCENARIO NAME_LAST NAME, i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_Dayon.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society Scenarios #21 & 22—the May releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

• 12/11/08—Open call begins

• 12/19/08—Submissions due by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time

• 1/9/09—Submissions review completed—selections and rejections notified

Guidelines

**SPOILER ALERT: Do not read the guidelines below if you wish to avoid spoilers for upcoming scenarios.**

Pathfinder Society Scenario #21
Suggested Title: The Eternal Obelisk
Setting: Qadira
Monster: A medusa
Level Range: Tier 5–9; tiers 5–7 and 8–9

Pathfinder Society Scenario #22
Suggested Title: None
Setting: Rural Cheliax
Monster: Open
Level Range: Tier 7–11; tiers 7–8 and 10–11

PLEASE NOTE: Pathfinder Society Scenarios are written with a 4-hour time limit in mind. Your outline should reflect 4 hours of solid game play.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call: Pathfinder Society Scenarios 19 & 20

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on a summary (or summaries) posted here on the Paizo daily blog as well as on the Pathfinder Society Write For Us page, write a 750-word outline that includes the following (read published scenarios for samples of how these are done, keeping your word count in mind):

a. An introduction

b. A summary of the complete story

c. Five unique or dynamic encounters tied to the overall plot

d. A conclusion

e. Five short suggestions for possible faction missions

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line [SCENARIO NAME] [YOUR LAST NAME]. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, Notepad, or Rich Text format—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled [SCENARIO NAME]_[LAST NAME], i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_Dayon. Failure to submit your entry in one of the requested formats (i.e., just pasting it into your email) and failure to properly name your file may disqualify your entry.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count. Failure to include this information will disqualify your entry and you won't receive feedback at the end of the process.

4. Once all submissions are in, the Pathfinder Society coordinator will take two weeks to review submissions and select an author for each open scenario. You will receive an email confirming receipt—please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission. The coordinator will attempt to respond to all submitters with feedback, but this may not always be possible.

5. If you are selected to write a scenario, you will be emailed instructions that include your word count, due date, and contract.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society scenarios #19 and #20—the April releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

• 11/13—Open call begins with summaries posted here on the Paizo daily blog and on the Pathfinder Society Write For Us page

• 11/21—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

• 12/12—Submissions review completed—selected authors notified

• 12/15—Decision announced on messageboards and on the Pathfinder Society home page

Summaries

**SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THE SUMMARIES BELOW IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING PATHFINDER SOCIETY SCENARIOS**

Pathfinder Society Scenario #19: Skeleton Moon
This scenario must contain the following:

1. Takes place on the Isle of Kortos outside the walls of Absalom in a ruined siege castle.

2. Since all of the siege castles around the City at the Center of the World are pretty well picked over, your outline should contain a good reason why this one or part of this one isn't.

3. The "boss" monster for this scenario must be an assassin vine—feel free to play around with the stats—templates, advanced, etc, but no half-dragon vines.

4. No undead. No cults. Something creepy is going on there.

5. This is a three-tiered scenario intended for 1st to 7th level characters (Tier 1–7; Tiers 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7).

6. Keep in mind that you only get 1/2 of a page of maps—don't suggest a scenario that exceeds this restriction.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #20: Demon Haunts the Devil's Hall
This scenario must contain the following:

1. Takes place in the summer estate of a low-ranking member of House Thrune of Cheliax.

2. The estate is infested with nabasu (from the Tome of Horrors) (but why?).

3. No undead. No cults. Expound on why the nabasu are in this devil-worshippers summer estate.

4. This is a two-tiered scenario intended for 7th to 11th level characters (Tier 7–11; Tiers 7–8 and 10–11).

5. Keep in mind that you only get 1/2 of a page of maps—don't suggest a scenario that exceeds this restriction.

Basic Outline:

Please keep the following basic scenario outline in mind when writing your 750-word summary:

Intro (1,000)
Encounter #1 (750)
Encounter #2 (750)
Encounter #3 (750)
Encounter #4 (750)
Encounter #5 (750)
Conclusion (500)
Faction Missions + Summary (1,900)
Extra words (345)

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 7,000

PLEASE NOTE: Pathfinder Society Scenarios are written with a 4-hour time limit in mind. Your outline should reflect this limitation.

Good luck and may the wisdom of Irori guide your keyboard.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Coming Soon: New Pathfinder Society Open Call

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Warning: If you wish to avoid spoilers about future Pathfinder Society scenarios, do not read this blog post.

Next week we begin our second open call for Pathfinder Society scenarios. Our first open call went quite well and we were happy to announce that Matthieu Dayon and Craig Campbell will write #17—Perils of the Pirate Pact and #18—The Trouble with Secrets respectively. Every single entry was given some kind of feedback and, hopefully, this sort of feedback helps our submitters to craft entries that better fit the types of stories we're seeking.

Our first open call went well and I, personally, learned a lot. Because of what I learned, I'm making a few changes to the submission guidelines to help speed up the entire process. The new, revised, submission guidelines are as follows:

1. Based on a summary (or summaries) posted here on the Paizo daily blog as well as on the Pathfinder Society Write For Us page, write a 750-word outline that includes the following (read published scenarios for samples of how these are done keeping your word count in mind):

a. An introduction

b. A summary of the complete story

c. Five unique or dynamic encounters tied to the overall plot

d. A conclusion

e. Five short suggestions for possible faction missions

2. By the due date, email your outline to josh@paizo.com with the subject line [SCENARIO NAME] [YOUR LAST NAME]. Your summary must be in a MS Word document, plain text, or Rich Text format—these are files ending in .doc, .txt, or .rtf. Your file must be titled [SCENARIO NAME]_[LAST NAME], i.e., PerilsofthePiratePact_Dayon. Failure to submit your entry in one of the requested formats (i.e., just pasting it into your email) and failure to properly name your file may disqualify your entry.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count. Failure to include this information will disqualify your entry and you won't receive feedback at the end of the process.

4. Once all submissions are in, the Pathfinder Society coordinator will take two weeks to review submissions and select an author for each open scenario. You will receive an email confirming receipt—please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission. The coordinator will attempt to respond to all submitters with feedback, but this may not always be possible.

5. If you are selected to write a scenario, you will be emailed instructions that include your word count, due date, and contract.

6. Failing to follow any of the instructions above will immediately disqualify you from the open call.

The open call that starts next week is for Pathfinder Society scenarios #19 and #20—the April releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

11/13—Open call begins with summaries posted here on the Paizo daily blog and on the Pathfinder Society Write For Us page

11/21—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

12/12—Submissions review completed—selected authors notified

12/15—Decision announced on messageboards and on the Pathfinder Society home page

While we won't begin accepting scenario outlines until next week, here are a few hints to get your brain juices flowing:

Scenario 19—Siege Keeps & Hidden Dungeons
Scenario 20—Cheliax Demon Hunt

Good luck!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Pathfinder Society Open Call Submissions

Thursday, October 30, 2008

After reviewing nearly half of the submissions for the Pathfinder Society Open Call, I want to address a few recurring issues and errors. Please note that not all of these issues and errors result in automatic rejection and don't assume your submission was rejected if you feel any of the items below apply to it. I have not yet selected the finalists.

Understanding the Pathfinder Society

This is the most important gaff I've seen—authors who don't really understand Golarion's Pathfinder Society. Either the submitter hasn't read the entry in Pathfinder #1 and the entry in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting or he or she is choosing to ignore it. Submitting a proposal for Pathfinder Society Scenario #17—Perils of the Pirate Pact and completely ignoring the motivations of the Pathfinder Society in your submission makes it feel more like a generic adventure and less like a scenario that should necessarily focus on Golarion's famed organization of vagabond explorers and thrill-seeking treasure hunters.

Avoid Passive Voice

Don't do it. Don't use it. Remove it from your writing style altogether. Passive voice is boring, distracting, and authors who use it often miss opportunities to approach a description from an evocative direction. For an excellent guide to passive voice, read this webpage from Purdue's English Department. Removing passive voice will strengthen your submissions and strengthen your final turnover.

Spelling Errors and Grammatical Errors

Use your spell check, have a friend read your submission, read your submission out loud—each of these is a great way to find errors. While one or two errors won't necessarily eliminate your submission, repeated errors will as they show a lack of attention to detail.

Use the Clues

In the summary for #17, for example, there were three clues: ettercaps, a book stolen from a Pathfinder Society venture-captain, and dead pirates dangling in spiderwebs over the River Sellen. Not using the clues from the summary in your submission makes your submission much less likely to be accepted.

Elaborate X

Many submissions spend more time on elaborate names, elaborate concepts, or elaborate scenes than on a good solid plot. While cool names, concepts, or scenes are cool, I'd rather see much more time spent making the plot flow well and making it make sense than submitters throwing spider pirates and complicated NPC names at me. You have one page to wow me—wow me with a good plot.
All in all, this has been a positive experience and I feel confident that I'll be able to reply with feedback to each submission. Check back on the Pathfinder Society messageboards and the Pathfinder Society website on Monday for the names of those selected for the Pathfinder Society open call. And importantly, don't let a rejection keep you from submitting for the next round!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Open Call: Pathfinder Society Scenarios 17 & 18

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on a summary posted on the Paizo daily blog (see below), write a 750-word outline following the format of already available–for–sale scenarios.

2. By the due date, email said summary to josh@paizo.com with the subject line [Scenario Name] Submission.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Once all submissions are in, the Pathfinder Society coordinator (Paizo's events manager) will take two weeks to review submissions and select an author for each. You will receive an email confirming receipt—please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission. The coordinator will attempt to respond to all submitters with feedback, but this may not always be possible.

5. If you are selected to write a scenario, you will be emailed instructions that include your word count, due date, and contract.

The current open call is for Pathfinder Society Scenarios #17 and #18—the March releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

10/9 Open call begins with summaries posted on the Paizo Blog and at paizo.com/pathfindersociety (see below)

10/17 Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

10/31 Submissions review completed

11/3 Decision announced on messageboards and paizo.com/pathfindersociety after authors are chosen and notified

Summaries:

**SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THE SUMMARIES BELOW IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING PATHFINDER SOCIETY SCENARIOS**

Pathfinder Society Scenario #17: Perils of the Pirate Pact

A gang of River Kingdoms pirates begs the Society for help after several members are found dead dangling in spider webs stretched across the Sellen River near Numeria. They offer an ancient text as a reward—an ancient text they originally stole from a Pathfinder venture—captain.

This is a three-tiered scenario intended for 1st to 7th level characters (Tier 1–7; Tiers 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7). It must include pirates, spiders, and at least one ettercap. It must be set on the Sellen River near the Numeria border in the River Kingdoms.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #18: The Trouble with Secrets

A secret vault beneath the Grand Lodge remains sealed after more than a century to hide an embarrassing event in the Society's past. When reports surface that the vault is open, the society sends the PCs to seal it and keep the Society's darkest secret forever hidden.

This is a two-tiered scenario intended for 5th to 9th level characters (Tier 5–9; Tiers 5–6 and 8–9). It must include at least one vampire and must be set beneath the Grand Lodge in Absalom.

Basic Outline:

Please keep the following basic scenario outline in mind when writing your 750-word summary:

Intro (1,000)

Encounter #1 (750)

Encounter #2 (750)

Encounter #3 (750)

Encounter #4 (750)

Encounter #5 (750)

Conclusion (500)

Faction Missions + Summary (1,900)

Extra words (345)

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 7,000

PLEASE NOTE: Pathfinder Society Scenarios are written with a 4-hour time limit in mind. Your outline should reflect this limitation.

Good luck and may the prowess of Cayden Cailean guide your keyboard.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Coming Soon: Open Call for Pathfinder Society Scenarios

Thursday, October 2, 2008

** Warning: if you wish to avoid possible spoilers about future Pathfinder Society scenarios, do not read this blog post. **
Good news! Next week we begin our first open call for Pathfinder Society scenarios. What do we mean by "open call?" We mean:

1. Not every scenario we release is written via the open call process

2. Outline submissions are based on summaries, rather than true open calls

Rules for submitting Pathfinder Society scenario outlines are as follows:

1. Based on a summary (or summaries) posted on the Paizo daily blog as well as on the Pathfinder Society page, write a 750-word outline following the format of already posted and available-for-sale scenarios.

2. By the due date, email said summary to josh@paizo.com with the subject line [Scenario Name] Submission.

3. Include your full legal name, email address, physical mailing address, and a contact phone number at the top of your submission—this text does not count toward your word count.

4. Once all submissions are in, the Pathfinder Society coordinator will take two weeks to review submissions and select an author for each open scenario. You will receive an email confirming receipt—please allow 72 hours for a response before resending your submission. The coordinator will attempt to respond to all submitters with feedback, but this may not always be possible.

5. If you are selected to write a scenario, you will be emailed instructions that include your word count, due date, and contract.

6. Failing to follow any of the instructions above will immediately disqualify you from the open call.

The open call that starts next week is for Pathfinder Society scenarios #17 and #18—the ~~January~~ March releases. The full schedule for this submission period is as follows:

10/9—Open call begins with summaries posted on the Paizo Blog and at paizo.com/pathfindersociety

10/17—Submissions due by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time

10/31—Submissions review completed

11/3—Decision announced on messageboards and paizo.com/pathfindersociety after authors are chosen and notified

While we won't begin accepting scenario outlines until next week, here are a few hints to get your brain juices flowing:

Scenario 17—Spiders & Pirates
Scenario 18—Vampires & Vaults

Good luck!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

The Red Raven, Revealed!

Friday, April 25th, 2008
Time again for the blogging! This time it is my pleasure to reveal, with all due fanfare, the One True Cover for our upcoming module W3: Flight of the Red Raven!
Jacob Burgess
Online Retail Coordinator

Meet the Red Raven

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Last year, we ran a contest to determine who would write for us the module W3: Flight of the Red Raven. We received more than 150 entries. The eventual winner, frequent Dragon-contributor David Schwartz, handed over a great adventure. We look forward to working with David again in the future.

Presented here is the Red Raven as he appears in the module, which will be available in May!

Mike McArtor
Editor

And the Winner is...

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

After combing through more than 150 initial queries and almost a dozen detailed outlines, we have finally found our winner of the GameMastery Open Call contest. The winner will write GameMastery Module W3: Flight of the Red Raven. Scarce information about the plot was given out, and the entrants had to combine that, along with the title, to come up with a compelling adventure full of exciting encounters and memorable villains.

In the end, David Schwartz came out on top. David's proposal hit a nerve with the staff, as his submission was both well-written and full of evocative scenes. This adventure is slated to hit store shelves in May 2008. While you might not see any more news on this one for a while (as David will be busy writing it!), here is a revised blurb describing David's adventure, along with our mock-up cover:

The Vernal Key has been stolen from the town of Azurestone and the notorious Red Raven is the culprit. With a terrible winter setting in, the small community faces a gruesome fate without its protection. To recover the Key, the heroes must face off against brazen outlaws, freezing weather, and dangerous predators, but the trail leads to even greater peril. For the Red Raven's path heads straight into the Jarl's Prison, a maze of ice and snow from which there is no escape!

Hearty congratulations go out to all of our finalists. Picking one of them as the winner was not easy task, as any one of them might have made for a great adventure. And don't forget, for all those who didn't win this contest, there's still plenty of time to enter RPG Superstar and make your big break that way!

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Get Your Big Break!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Ever thought about trying to break into the gaming industry, but have no idea where to start? Now's your chance! Starting at the end of October, paizo.com will host RPG Superstar, the first adventure game industry design contest voted on by the fans, aimed at finding the newest talent in RPG design.

"With the end of the print editions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, Paizo has lost a conduit to find new designers," says Lisa Stevens, Paizo's CEO. "We're launching a RPG design contest to give unknown talent a chance to get noticed!"

Starting on October 31, 2007, any eligible person will be able to submit an entry into the contest. For the open call, that entry will be a wondrous item using the 3.5 SRD. Each entry needs to be 200 words or less, and must include all of the proper mechanics and flavor. Judges will announce the top 32 entries on November 28; those contestants will advance to the first round of public voting, where they will be assigned a new design task and their entries will be posted on paizo.com for the public to read, critique, and vote on. The designers garnering the most votes will continue on to subsequent rounds, and the ultimate winner will earn a paid commission to write one of Paizo's upcoming GameMastery Modules!

Paizo has gathered together three judges to oversee the competition. Paizo's Publisher, Erik Mona, will share the spotlight with fan-favorite author and Kobold Quarterly publisher Wolfgang Baur, as well as Necromancer Games co-owner Clark Peterson. Each round, these judges will critique the entries before the public vote.

The fans themselves will decide which talented designers go on to the next round by casting a vote on paizo.com for their favorite contestant. Each round includes a six-day window for fans to discuss the entries and cast their votes. After the open call round ends, the next rounds will proceed as follows:

Top 32: Design a country
Top 16: Design a villain (complete with stat block)
Top 8: Design three thematically linked monsters
Top 6: Design an encounter
Top 4: Submit a full adventure proposal

The winner of the first RPG Superstar contest will be announced on February 20, 2008.

Complete rules and entry form are available at paizo.com/rpgsuperstar. Do you have what it takes to be the next RPG Superstar?
Go to paizo.com/rpgsuperstar and find out!

Joshua J. Frost
Paizo Director of Sales and Marketing

Top 5 Open Call Mistakes

Friday, October 12, 2007

So, we're not going to have time to send out detailed feedback to everyone who failed to make it to the second round of the Open Call for W3: Flight of the Red Raven. But I know that people want to know what they did wrong, or how they can improve for the future, for the next open call or for other endeavors. With that in mind, here are the five most common mistakes people made that caused me to reject the submission.

1. Novel-writing. An adventure is about the PCs. People who had experience submitting to Dungeon had an advantage here, as it's something I've been saying for years. No matter how fascinating your backstory is, no matter how many tangled plotlines you have between complex NPCs, in the end, the most important thing I want to learn from your proposal is: what happens to the PCs during this adventure? That is what most of the adventure will be about, it's the only thing the players really care about, and it's the basic quality upon which all adventures are ultimately judged. For that reason, the most important questions were: "What are the two obstacles?" "What does the final encounter look like?" and "What is the new monster?" The "Who took the object and why?" question, while important, was probably the least interesting question from my point of view. If you spent over half your proposal answering this question, that's bad.

2. Details, details. The module failed to meet the minimum standards for either: following instructions, writing quality, or some other "mundane" detail. Several of the queries I read did not make any sense. Several more were rife with grammatical errors, spelling errors, or other fundamental problems. And there were a few that were written almost entirely in passive voice. Any of these things really hurt your chances. Also, I'll throw one more mistake in this category. Several people based their adventure around monsters, classes, or concepts that are Wizards of the Coast's IP. If your main villain was a hexblade, or your most important monster was a nerra, your proposal didn't get far.

3. Been there, done that. The module simply wasn't very creative. This is a hard one to quantify, and subject somewhat to individual taste, but nevertheless, if your plot was straightforward, your challenges predicable, your "moral quandary" at the end clichéd, and your villain pulled straight from a movie or book, then we weren't that interested. The best proposals, the ones that got passed through to the next round, all contained at least one element that provoked some kind of emotional response from the editors. Whether we thought it was funny, tragic, romantic, creepy, exciting, or mysterious, the important thing was that we got involved in the story. That's probably the hardest thing to pull off with any proposal, but its also the most important. If you can draw us into your adventure, we are going to want to print it.

4. Overly ambitious. The proposal was inappropriate for the level. There are two ways this could happen. First of all, if your proposal involved monsters or challenges that were clearly beyond what 4th-level characters could handle, it was an easy pass, since it demonstrated that you didn't really know how the CR system works. But there was another way you could trip up here too. 4th-level characters are not equipped to save the world. If your plotline involved ancient demons emerging from the Abyss to destroy the planet, or a mad lich plotting to undo creation, you missed the point, even if the monsters themselves were the right CR. At 4th level, the PCs are still just beginning their careers, if they are facing epic forces and saving the world now, what will they be doing at level 12? That's not to say that the PCs shouldn't be doing important things, but saving the world is not in the cards, at least not yet.

5. Breaking the toys. The adventure created or modified a large amount of campaign setting continuity. This is a simple matter of practicality. We don't want to blow up cities or nations, destroy mountains, or make major shifts in the campaign setting in the context of these modules. Especially when the writer doesn't have a lot of history working with us.

I hope that gives you guys something to go on for the next time around. In closing, I just want to thank you all for submitting. There were lots of great ideas, and it was difficult, in the end, to narrow it down to the right number. This won't be the last open call we do, and I hope to see many of you again for the next time around.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

Open Call Round 1 Results

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The results for Round 1 of the GameMastery Module Open Call are in. It may have taken a marathon meeting, about half a dozen cans of Diet Dr. Pepper, and a host of minis to play with while we chatted... but it's finally done. In the end, we couldn't settle on 10 candidates as initially promised, and instead decided to go with 12! Those who advanced will have a little more than two weeks to submit a full outline, including sample encounters and monsters.

All of the acceptance and rejection emails have now been sent out, so you might want to go check you inbox right about now. Congratulations to those who got accepted. For those of you who did not make the cut, do not despair: we're combing through the entries to see if any of the monsters might make suitable entries into the Pathfinder bestiary section.

We got a lot of really great entries, and trimming them down was not an easy task. There were a large number of proposals that probably would have made for a great module, but unfortunately cuts had to be made. So keep an eye out for future writing opportunities, for both the GameMastery Modules and Pathfinder alike. Next time, we might pick you!

Didn't make the cut and want to share your ideas with others? Feel free to post your ideas to our messageboards.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

GameMastery Open Call: Closed

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The first round of the GameMastery Module Open Call closed yesterday at noon, and let me tell you, there was quite a rush there at the end. Can an email program smoke? I think mine did a little yesterday.

All told, we received 168 entries over the course of nine days, with most of them coming within the final 48 hours. Following the closing of the contest, I have gone through and stripped the names from files, assigning them all a number. After printing them and sorting them into three even stacks, Mike McArtor, Jeremy Walker, and I have dug in, reading all about wondrous dragon eggs, stolen town icons, missing children, and a veritable swarm of red ravens.

Of interest to me (and perhaps only to me), the shortest entry clocked in at just 245 words while the longest came in at 1,405. The word count limit only caught 7 proposals, but other problems (such as incorrect format or lack of name) nabbed another 11, bringing the final total down to an even 150.

Mike, Jeremy, and I are all feverishly looking through our stacks of 50, picking out what we feel are the best to bring to a contest meeting later this week, where we will narrow down the search to ten finalists. For those of you who are anxiously waiting, expect word late this week or early next. Feel free to send bribes, but since this is a blind review, I am not sure it will help you much.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager