Since I have been involved with Pathfinder Society, one thing I have heard mentioned by players on numerous occasions is that they wish they could learn more about Golarion and incorporate that knowledge into their Pathfinder Society character. After thinking on different ways to make this happen, it occurred to me that Golarion has quite a few holidays mentioned in Faiths of Balance, Faiths of Corruption, Faiths of Purity, and The Inner Sea World Guide. As in the real world, where holidays are important to all of us, holidays in Golarion are important to our characters and the NPCs spread out across the world.
Every so often, I will write a blog that details a holiday in Golarion to help Pathfinder Society characters share in the spirit of the holiday. Creative Director James Jacobs wrote the description below for the first holiday in this series: Jestercap, mentioned on page 249 of The Inner Sea World Guide. At the end of the description, you will find a special Pathfinder Society Chronicle sheet you can download and apply to a Pathfinder Society character.
Jestercap occurs at the end of the month of Lamashan, traditionally on the 27th (although a few regions have taken to moving the exact day around slightly so it always falls on the last Starday of the month, allowing people who wish to celebrate in excess to have the following day of rest to recover). While Jestercap has been embraced with excited open arms by the gnome communities of the Inner Sea region, its original genesis is said to have been in one of Taldor’s coastal cities not long after King Aspex the Even-Tongued broke from the nation, significantly weakening Taldor’s power and beginning that nation’s long decline. The holiday was originally intended to distract the distraught Taldan populace with a night of revelry and comedic entertainment, but the antics of jesters simply weren’t enough. Over the course of the first few years, Jestercap evolved from a holiday of observation to a holiday of participation. Today, the holiday is a time where anyone can pull pranks or jokes or japes on companions, on neighbors, and (most typically) on rivals, with the understanding that provided no lasting harm is done, any humiliations inflicted before midnight are to be taken in stride. Of course, come morning the day after, there are inevitably jokes that went too far, and grudges and feuds borne from Jestercap antics have a way of lingering for months to follow.
Download the Jestercap Boon! - (115 KB zip/PDF)This Boon is no longer available as of 11/14/11.
Mike Brock Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
Jeff Mahood aka Feegle(Venture-Lieutenant, Canada—Ontario)
Very cool. My assumption is that if I'm running a PFS game within the dates on the Boon, I print off a few copies of the Boon and give them out along with the Chronicle the players earn. Am I interpreting the intent correctly?
Also, does this count as a chronicle for the purposes of not getting more than one per player? (And presumably since it's only a boon, a GM cannot apply it to one of their characters; they have to play in order to earn it - as per page 16 of the Guide to Organized Play?)
What if you're unable to play PFS during the dates listed? Can you still apply this to one of your PFS characters during this time?
You'll need to get it signed by a GM during that time for it to be valid. The intention of this limited time Boon is to encourage people to play during that time, so we'd prefer that.
Michael Brock(Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator)
Very cool. My assumption is that if I'm running a PFS game within the dates on the Boon, I print off a few copies of the Boon and give them out along with the Chronicle the players earn. Am I interpreting the intent correctly?
Also, does this count as a chronicle for the purposes of not getting more than one per player? (And presumably since it's only a boon, a GM cannot apply it to one of their characters; they have to play in order to earn it - as per page 16 of the Guide to Organized Play?)
Yes, if you are GMing a PFS game during the timeframe, print off copies and give them out with the Chronicle sheet.
Also, a player should only receive one.
Also, the holidays will be an exception and GMs may also receive one Chronicle if they GM a game during the timeframe.
Jeff Mahood aka Feegle(Venture-Lieutenant, Canada—Ontario)
Michael Brock wrote:
Yes, if you are GMing a PFS game during the timeframe, print off copies and give them out with the Chronicle sheet.
Also, a player should only receive one.
Also, the holidays will be an exception and GMs may also receive one Chronicle if they GM a game during the timeframe.
Quick, and succinct. Thanks for the response, boss. :)
Daniel Luckett aka ThornDJL7(Venture-Captain, Michigan—Western Michigan)
Any kind of event/session recording required for this specific chronicle sheet, or just hand it out with the other one?
Michael Brock(Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator)
ThornDJL7 wrote:
Any kind of event/session recording required for this specific chronicle sheet, or just hand it out with the other one?
Just hand it out with the other ones, similar to Chronicles for the Pathfinder Tales.
Speaking of the Pathfinder Tales Chronicles, any idea when the rest of the Tales books will get a Chronicle?
They are on the schedule and are coming soon. Please give us some time but I haven't forgot about these and is one of the lose ends I wanted to tie up since I have been here.
It doesn't. If you really wanted to be picky, I'd say face, but this doesn't actually have a magic item statblock, so you can treat it as a slotless item for simplicity's sake.
It doesn't. If you really wanted to be picky, I'd say face, but this doesn't actually have a magic item statblock, so you can treat it as a slotless item for simplicity's sake.
That's what I was guessing, thanks for confirming though, I appreciate it.
Pretty sure it's a Koblin or Gobold, aka a Goblin in a Kobold costume.
Next, I want to see the Drabold (a Kobold in a Dragon costume)...those little guys are always aspiring to be so much more.
--E
Tim Statler(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion Subscriber)
An adventurer found that Drabo had a knack for magic and promised him, if he could keep from killing people while he was trained, to make him a great wizard. Darbo thought he said "Great Lizard" and went and killed a kobold, and skinned it, to get a jump start on the process.
Tally's Bestiary does custom plushies (eg zergling). Given that she actually played a goblin in my Rise of the Runelords campaign, she's even familiar with the source material. :) I have no idea what she charges for custom work, I'm afraid.
Back on topic, I love the holiday boon idea! It encourages people to play and it enforces background stuff! Thanks for the cool new campaign element!
I just want to say that I realy like this idea (and this boon)
I hope there will be more boon's like this one and I can't wait to see what you guys come up with for the next one :)
Walter Sheppard aka WalterGM(Venture-Lieutenant, Washington—Pullman & Spokane)
Giving these out to my tables tonight -- I expect they'll go over incredibly well.. except for the people that played through the Frostfur Captives and are still haunted by the memories of those goblins :P
These boons are an awesome idea, I can't wait to see more of them for future holidays and events. Question - any chance of creating regional boons that can be earned only in specific locations (much like special con event boons), to encourage interchange of players between regions and locations?
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