Would you Modify the faction missions for "Eyes of the Ten" in Season Six?

[Chris Mortika]

So, it's a simple matter for a character to join the Scarab Sages or the Grand Lodge these days and never do a lick of work for Osirion. It's even more likely that a character called to watch over the malignant Dark Archive would blanch at some of the demands of a paracountess still loyal to Cheliax.

In other words, it seems likely that there will be little incentive for many characters to be loyal to the old versions of their factions. One of the main issues with "Eyes of the Ten" is the tension between loyalty to your faction, versus loyalty to the Grand Lodge. That tension is largely removed given the adjustments in Season 6.

I'll be running Eyes over Christmas / New Year's, and I'm looking for advice.

Is anybody planning to modify the scenarios to make more sense in the current play environment? Or would you recommend that I just ask the players to imagine they're really working to advance the position of Cheliax / Taldor / etc. among the politics of Absalom?

[Red-Assassin]

Great question Chris. I was planning on running it near November. I was going to do something totally different. I would like to hear other opinions on the matter.

[Iammars]

So yeah, this is an interesting point. I hand them out to players for every module and I tell them "With one exception, these are optional. Feel free to decide whether or not your character would do these." Put the onus on them to decide whether or not their character would do the faction missions. It works out pretty well, and I have had some characters embrace them fairly well and some just reject them - either way is fine.

[Alex McGuire]

I would ask the entire table if they would mind doing the old faction missions for their prestige point instead of doing the secondary success condition. If anyone objected, I would still hand the missions out but I'd use the secondary success mission. If after an adventure anyone asked to go back to secondary success conditions, I would do so. This is the only group of scenarios that I would do that for.

[Chris Mortika]

Alex, the secondary success for #2-22, EotT part 4, *is* the faction missions. GMs are directed to hand out the faction missions at the appropriate time and inform the players that this is an exception to the "faction missions are flavor" rule.

My concern is that the factions have moved away from those missions. (Heck, a member of the Grand Lodge would receive a mission directing them to work *against* the Society.) I suspect that my players will shake their heads at them and ignore them, as they stand.

[EricMcG]

The PDF can be edited to just change the honourific to a Season 6 appropriate title. Same with the closing line. I'm not sure that there is much in the body of any of them that would be inappropriate.

I would suggest giving the faction mission to the players regardless since many of them tie into the plotlines, but give them the option to take the secondary conditions, particularly if the game is running long (and they will). As with a shirt/folio/tattoo reroll, they must decide before they know success or failure.

I've played the series once and run it once. When I ran it I gave the players the faction sheets, which all of the players always performed. When I played, there were 3 different GMs and don't recall if any of them gave out any sheets before part IV.

Note that when I ran it, I modified the tactics of the initial encounter dramatically. I took the available resources and exchanged them for items of equal value tuned to the abilities of the characters I knew would be present. A scroll of Silence on a wine glass left innocuously on a table and a Phase Lock arrow did wonders to give the antagonist time to complete his objectives. Do not shut down the characters for more than 2 rounds and don't weaken them so they are easy kills, just go through the excellent back story and plan intelligently.

Also, since I ran all four parts, I was able to tie in certain Season 5 elements (Darklands access to Jormurdun, covert demonic missions from the World Wound, etc.). There are a lot of plot hooks within the text so that you should be able to find something Season 6 related (Mwangi Expanse, clockwork encounters, etc.). I also did cut scenes between each part in email between sessions to give it more of novelization feel. I think it worked, but maybe it went off the rails and the players were too polite to say anything.

[David Haller]

If a GM feels comfortable revising the faction missions to accommodate current factions, I'd say "do it" - a major aspect of part IV is illustrating how "corrupted" the Society has become by internecine intrigues, and the need for "true Pathfinders" to transcend it. It just has to be meaningful.

Of course, this violates the PFS edict forbidding scenario rewrite. I'm chaotic neutral, though, so...

Here's how I'd handle it:

(i) "Guys, factions are a thing in this, so do you mind if I rewrite the faction missions accordingly?"

(ii) If "yes", do I feel comfortable rewriting them? In other words: can I write? do I understand game balance? do I feel I can retain the existing difficulty of the scenario doing this?

(iii) if "yes", rewrite.

Simple!

[TriOmegaZero]

I will be handing out faction missions for every part, and letting them know when it actually counts. My players have done Throaty Mermaid and are used to this sometimes cropping up, and how the handouts can be a little wonky with everything that has transpired.

[GM Lamplighter]

The Cheliax faction mission in part 1 must stay! :)

Seriously, though - if there was a way to reskin the missions to fit better, that would be great. Maybe a few of us can put our heads together and come up with mdofied faction missions that follow the basics but feel right for Season 6? I routinely adjust the faction missions with new title/signature/etc and sometimes change the wording to avoid them feeling out of place for new faction PCs (also for old faction heads like Qadira and Taldor). If the mechanics stay the same, it should still be legal?

[Mattastrophic]

Hmm... updating Part III to be like TRON sounds pretty awesome, and appropriate for Season 6.

-Matt fights for the users.

[AxeMurder0]

I'm running Eyes of the Ten right now.

I've got a table of 4 Dark Archive and we just completed part 1 last night.

I explained the faction mission stuff to them. The Cheliax faction mission was cool enough that the players loved it. The characters were not especially loyal to Cheliax and were somewhat horrified at what they had done but the players loved it.

What was a much bigger problem was that 3/4 players didn't know who Adril Hestram was.

[GM Lamplighter]

Yeah, that's an issue. At first, I made sure I ran some older scenarios for folks before Eyes, to ensure they would have context... that's getting harder to do now due to sheer numbers.

[kinevon]

GM Lamplighter wrote:

Yeah, that's an issue. At first, I made sure I ran some older scenarios for folks before Eyes, to ensure they would have context... that's getting harder to do now due to sheer numbers.

So, what are the 7-11s with the mission given out by Adril?

[AxeMurder0]

1-38 No Plunder, No Pay is Adril.

[TriOmegaZero]

I specifically started running early scenarios with tie-ins for the group I plan on running Eyes for, just to address that problem. Of course, it is a lot easier for me since I have a private group I GM scenarios for.

[Jayson MF Kip]

Robert Hetherington wrote:

1-38 No Plunder, No Pay is Adril.

IIRC,#22, Fingerprints of the Fiend is also Mr. Hestram's work.

22:

It also has an awesome minecart chase. (Players willing).

aside:

Honestly, all three 'of the Fiend' scenarios were pretty awesome.

[downerbeautiful]

Chris Mortika wrote:

Alex, the secondary success for #2-22, EotT part 4, *is* the faction missions. GMs are directed to hand out the faction missions at the appropriate time and inform the players that this is an exception to the "faction missions are flavor" rule.

That's not entirely true. Players are able to complete the secondary success conditions without doing their faction missions. There isn't much of a difference between season five and season six if the players have no affiliation to the initial five factions. They'll choose to do them, or they'll ignore the faction missions in the same way they they'd have done so in season two.

Part of the original success conditions:

Especially since they were penalized for doing the faction missions.

[Erik Mona]

Robert Hetherington wrote:

I explained the faction mission stuff to them. The Cheliax faction mission was cool enough that the players loved it. The characters were not especially loyal to Cheliax and were somewhat horrified at what they had done but the players loved it.

Delightful.

[AxeMurder0]

Erik Mona wrote:

Robert Hetherington wrote:

I explained the faction mission stuff to them. The Cheliax faction mission was cool enough that the players loved it. The characters were not especially loyal to Cheliax and were somewhat horrified at what they had done but the players loved it.

Delightful.

At first they were excited that the Devil broke the guillotine for them. Then a bit horrified as it sucked in all the escaping souls growing in stature as the screams of the damned faded into its belly.

They had a moment of relief when it attacked the Judge instead of them but then when back to horrified when it said it had business at the lodge and teleported away.

[kinevon]

Jayson MF Kip wrote:

Robert Hetherington wrote:

1-38 No Plunder, No Pay is Adril.

IIRC,#22, Fingerprints of the Fiend is also Mr. Hestram's work.

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

I have run Fingerprints, for a high tier group, and it went .... strange.

Fingerprints of the Fiend:

So, the outside encounter was pretty much over with the empowered Fireball. Especially when the only one of the bad guys with enough hit points failed his save. Sigh.

Inside, the Wizard showed a new ability. He cast Stone to Flesh on the bard. The mooks jumped in the cart, and found out, in rather quick order, that they melted before the cart did, from that second fireball. So much for the cinematic portion of this scenario...

The rest was, more-or-less, more of the same. It wasn't just the Wizard, though, everything was pretty much out-classed by the PCs. Maybe I'll run it again, and actually get to run it.

[Majuba]

kinevon wrote:

So, what are the 7-11s with the mission given out by Adril?

List of Scenarios featuring the VC's from Eyes of the Ten - through Season 3.:

Osprey (Not a venture Captain):

2 The Hydra's Fang Incident
16 To Scale the Dragon
24 Decline of Glory
34 Encounter at the Drowning Stones
40 Hall of Drunken Heroes
2-EX Year of the Shadow Lodge
2-12 Below the Silver Tarn
2-14 The Chasm of Screams

Eliza Petulengro:
7 Among the Living

Adril Hestram:
1 Silent Tide
3 Murder on the Silken Caravan
4 The Frozen Fingers of Midnight
5 Mists of Mwangi
17 Perils of the Pirate Pact
20 King Xeros of Old Azlant
22 Fingerprints of the Fiend
26 Lost at Bitter End
31 Sniper in the Deep
35 Voice in the Void
38 No Plunder, No Pay

I would suggest, at least at this point, leaving the faction missions as is. There will probably be more loyalty to the old factions than the new ones for Level 12 characters. I just ran this back in May/June and things were enjoyable. No need to be forward in saying they are just for flavor (though you should certainly say so if asked).

[xebeche]

EricMcG wrote:

Note that when I ran it, I modified the tactics of the initial encounter dramatically. I took the available resources and exchanged them for items of equal value tuned to the abilities of the characters I knew would be present. A scroll of Silence on a wine glass left innocuously on a table and a Phase Lock arrow did wonders to give the antagonist time to complete his objectives.

I understand why someone would want to make changes, but I don't understand why anyone would. As GMs we are expected to run combats and other mechanics as written.

[TriOmegaZero]

I made no changes to the faction missions and merely explained it as "The Silver Crusade is aiding the Liberty's Edge in this endeavor" for any corner cases.

[Qstor]

Alex McGuire wrote:

I would ask the entire table if they would mind doing the old faction missions for their prestige point instead of doing the secondary success condition. If anyone objected, I would still hand the missions out but I'd use the secondary success mission.

Spoiler:

I ran it a couple of weeks ago. I gave the players the older faction missions and asked them if they wanted to do them during the play of the scenario. But I didn't tie the success of the scenario to the faction missions. I thought it was important given the success conditions written into the scenario for the victory points(?) I think for the boons

Mike

[xebeche]

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

I made no changes to the faction missions and merely explained it as "The Silver Crusade is aiding the Liberty's Edge in this endeavor" for any corner cases.

I am looking into slightly updating the handouts while keeping the missions intact. These are very out of date and I don't want that to effect immersion. This seems reasonable to me, but altering combat encounters does not.

[G-Zeus]

I am currently running it and beforehand i asked my players if they wanted to run with their factions and they said no. The scenarios are great without it and I've taken the liberty to faction flavor where relevant. They seem to be enjoying it nonetheless.

[Talgeron]

When I played it, the GMs rewrote the faction missions to come from the PC's faction leaders, flavored as a favor to an ally of the society. It was great. The Taldor faction mission for part III must stay. And it was written from the point of view of Ambrus Valsin, starting out, "I can't believe I'm actually putting this on paper, but could you..."