Venture-Captain, Massachusetts—Central & West
|
It's not wrong. Shadow Lodge players would get the Cheliax faction mission. If any of them complete it, then both factions get their Prestige Point for that.
Because those factions were not present during earlier seasons, they had to be rolled into earlier scenarios. Just pretend it's a favor for Zarta on behalf of Grandmaster Torch.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
dodgy maybe Mike, OTOH, it does mean you can have Silver Crusade people murdering Pathfinders :-)
More seriously, yes, it can give some players/characters fits. I had one Shadow Lodge player who refused to complete her faction mission.
Plus I have all these 0-1 scenarios I've not ran, why shouldn't I use them?
|
|
If you feel that strongly about it, you might offer to fund Paizo hiring a freelance developer to update all the scenarios from seasons 0, 1, and 2. Should only cost several thousand dollars.
Or you can do what I do and reskin the faction missions for the different factions. Example:
Cheliax - I added the italicized bit at the end, but kept the main faction mission exactly the same as written in the scenario.
Her Majestrix’s Most Loyal Servant,
Asmodeus caresses your soul with every victory you deliver him. I have needs of your dark service once more. Count Du Moire is a dear companion of mine and I enjoy keeping him pleased. His son’s latest folly has caused him much pain, and he no longer visits me in Absalom as he is too busy managing this latest crisis. I would very much like a taste of his company again soon, so I hope you’ll deal with his son’s foolishness in an expedient manner.
Count Du Moire’s patience for his son’s incorrigible roguishness and play-piracy has come to an end. The boy has dredged the family name through the mire too often. I would see the Count’s good name restored. Dispose of any indisputable evidence linking the acts of piracy to his family name. In simpler terms, do not allow anyone to recover his son’s body, but instead, dispose of it in a manner that will never allow it to be found. Burn it, tear it to pieces, sink it to the bottom of the sea—I care not. Do this, and the next time Count Du Moire journeys to Absalom to keep me company, perhaps you shall be welcome to join us. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Torch has offered his aid, if he can. If any of his agents are nearby when you seek to do me this favor, they may offer to help. As much as I do not relish favors owed to that man, this task is too important to risk – take their help if it is offered.
Sinfully Yours,
Paracountess Zarta Dralneen
Shadow Lodge - Completely written by me.
Pathfinder,
I have often found Paracountess Dralneen to be a useful source of information, and so I do whatever I can to keep her indebted to me. She seems to be in a particular lather over this Du Moire creature, and I have offered to help her, if I can.
As distasteful as it may be, she wants him dead, and his body conveniently missing. It must be unrecoverable.
Agents of Cheliax may be working to this same end; if you encounter them, offer your aid and co-operation, so that I may keep Paracountess Dralneen dancing to my tune.
Be safe,
Torch
Director of Brand Strategy
|
If it's a circle you can't square, then I suggest you simply play only scenarios that include a Shadow Lodge mission (seasons 3–4). We currently have neither plans nor resources to go back and add five new faction missions to three seasons' worth of scenarios from Seasons 0–2.
|
Silly Mark, there are no circles you can square. [/mathteacher]
Pi R square, circles are round.
More seriously, the faction mission mappings are just a way to allow new faction PCs and old scenarios to play together. A rewrite, while a nice idea, is just not in the budget. Neither money nor time.
And, hey, look! I finally got my second star!
|
My wife has the same problem. Shadow Lodge /= Cheliax, and for those season 0-2 scenarios neither of us can really wrap our minds around why a Shadow Lodge character would ever be asked to do half the things they are asked to do in those seasons.
So far, I just suggest players assume their Shadow Lodge characters are masquerading as Cheliax nationals to maintain their "cover" during the seasons when Shadow Lodge was either secret or villainous.
|
mostly i would think that if a shadow lodge player completes his mission, and the chelliax have the same mission, i would pretty much say that the chelliax player have bummed out and not completed it. i know that would be a big problem, that 50% of the players would "loose" their faction missions.
That would be fine in a home game (of course), not if you're running it as an official reported PFS game.
on a side note, im starting up on the season 3 scenarios then :P its easier :P
There are quite a few to work through, and plenty of good ones!
|
|
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well if it helps anyone, I made some handouts for new faction players playing in season 0-2 scenarios, I think the link is here.
Some like these might help, or you could make your own versions as well.
*Credit to Jeff for the Shadow Lodge one
|
|
Realizing the problem, and knowing that players will still be playing many scenarios pre-Season 3, I recommend that new players take one of the original five factions.
TBH, all my characters but one are the original 5 factions for the same reason. My other one is Silver Crusade, and out of all the pairings that one is pretty close.
|
|
I've always played it as 'a favor for Torch' when doing season 0 thru 2. I figure that Torch and the Shadow Lodge aren't adverse to helping out. I dislike the messages from the 'freaky lady from Chelliax' as my gunslinger calls her, but she does it anyway.
That being said.. there are some missions I definitely don't like.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
|
When my wife and I created our first PFS characters, we ended up with one Shadow Lodge and one Silver Crusade faction member (some would say we chose poorly :-). We ran into several situations where completing the faction missions while staying in-character was problematical - in fact my wife refused to participate in one (Silver Crusade) faction mission, and I had at least one scenario where I mostly rode on the coat-tails of a Cheliax agent - had I been the only character attempting to complete that faction mission I would probably not have elected to do so.
While the other factions do have problems as well, it has been my impression (as both a player and a GM) that Shadow Lodge and Silver Crusade seem to be the least well matched to their partner faction goals. We have generally chosen to run older scenarios using different characters built using just the original five factions, and to only run the SL/SC characters in scenarios from season three or later. In fact we've only built one other pair of characters using a newer faction, and that was for story reasons - our Kitsunes are members of the Lantern Lodge.
|
Silly Mark, there are no circles you can square. [/mathteacher]
With the right power tools, anything can be made square. It just might hurt a bit.
I'm suddenly reminded of my nephew's shirt that says "With enough thrust, pigs fly just fine."
But back to the topic at hand.
I just don't agree with all the mappings of old and new factions. Why would Shadow Lodge help Cheliax? Given their ideals of wanting to help and protect individuals over centralized organizations, you'd think they'd align with Andoran more than Cheliax.
And Sczarni going with Taldor? They'd be the ones I'd expect to help Cheliax out. Sczarni might not be lawful like Cheliax, but they know the value of a favor, and they know they can rely on devils to repay their debts.
Are the faction mappings of old to new factions required to be followed, or are they just recommendations? I know when I first started playing over a year ago, my group never remembered who from the new factions should get which old faction mission, so we just made sure everyone got a faction mission and didn't worry too much about whether it was the right one. With a small group like ours, this also meant that the GMs would occasionally get to pick a faction mission that they thought would go well with the personality of the individual PC. Is that sort of thing allowed, or were we unintentionally breaking the rules back before we knew better?
Is that sort of thing allowed, or were we unintentionally breaking the rules back before we knew better?
No. Yes.
|
|
The reason I even asked is that I thought I remembered the Guide to Organized Play saying you "should" use those alternate factions. It was worded softly enough to make it seem like a recommendation, more than a rule. But I don't have it in front of me, and it may even have changed in the newer Guide.
|
Let me start by saying this, you're allowed to modify the on-hand faction missions AS LONG AS you do not make it anymore difficult for the player to complete their faction mission and you do not change the mission they are required to do (i.e. If an Andoran faction member needs to rescue a slave, then the Silver Crusader needs to do the same thing). How you word that is up to you. In addition to all of this, you can elect not to accept a faction mission if you believe it goes against your character. I've yet to find a Qadiran mission my Lantern magus can't stand, so I suppose I've been lucky there, but if I did, I would simply turn it down.
Here's what I do:
Ambrus Valsin: The Osiriani have agreed to grant us access to one of their recently uncovered ruins as long as we agree to help them accomplish a goal of theirs. We need you to --insert Osiriani faction mission here---. This could mean big things for the Society, Pathfinders. See that you get it done.
Torch: Zarta Dralneen has some information that she's willing to part with as long as I help her with ---insert Cheliax faction mission here---. While I'm loath to put you in danger, this information could prove very useful to us in the future. It's not in me to care about her petty political plays, but please see to it that you treat her wishes with every bit of the respect you show to me.
Guaril: It would seem that even a man such as myself can't escape from favors owed to other people less prestigious than myself. The Taldans want me to help them with ---insert Taldor faction mission here--- but I'm much too busy to see it through. Please go and act as my representative in this instant and you shall be rewarded greatly.
Amara Li: While it upsets me greatly to discover that some of our honored relics have fallen into the hands of black marketeers, it would seem that they have not escaped the eye of the Qadirans. We've worked closely with the Trade Prince before on delicate matters such as this and because of our relationshiop, they're willing to return them to us. However they're requesting our assistance on an urgent matter that concerns them. It would seem they need someone to ---insert Qadiran mission---. Please see to it that this is done. It would serve only to strengthen our ties with them.
Ollysta Zadrian: While I do not know the full details surrounding the matter, Colson Madris has requested that I sent some of our best individuals to assist him with important matters. Andoran is still a young nation and if we can take their determination and focus it towards righteousness, it is our duty to do so. Help them ---insert Andoran mission here--- and let them see the light of good within you. Maybe it will persuade them to serve the light as well.
This is just a roughly thrown-together fashion of what I say and do, but I think my players appreciate it. Maybe yours will too.