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.
