Off to the Planes!

Monday, November 28, 2016

We launched Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild's Season of the Stolen Storm with the promise of exploring the elemental planes, yet so far, the season has maintained a conspicuously Material Plane focus. Part of that's a lesson learned from Season 6, whose two dozen scenarios incorporated advanced technology in modest quantities yet developed a nothing-but-tech reputation because many of those scenarios debuted near the beginning of the season. This year we've been ramping up our extraplanar storyline more gradually, including Pathfinder Society Special #7-99: Through Maelstrom Rift as a peek behind the scenes of developments on their way and Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-05: Ungrounded but Unbroken as the Society's first on-screen step onto the elemental planes. At the same time, we've provided an oft-requested return to Galt, a story of redemption in Dtang Ma, an evergreen Tier 3-7 scenario, and more.

But make no mistake: we'll be seeing more of the elemental planes. That begins this week, beginning with two short series: Tyranny of Winds and Forged in Flame!

The first installment of Tyranny of Winds comes to us from Charlie Brooks, who takes us on a whirlwind tour of Osirion's Scorpion Coast in Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-08: Tyranny of Winds, Part 1: The Sandstorm Prophecy, a Tier 1-5 adventure. Much to Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir's consternation, his lodge has suffered another theft, this time apparently in association with the Society's recent acquisition of a powerful elemental artifact. The culprit has escaped into the Scorpion Coast, an untamed wilderness that Osirian pharaohs once attempted to settle through the labor of elementals—no doubt of interest to members of the Scarab Sages. It is now the domain of free-willed elementals that view most humanoids as trespassers, and it's here the PCs must travel if they are to find where the thief fled.

This season it's a goal of ours to present at least two adventures in each of the four elemental planes, and the Plane of Fire has proven one of the greatest challenges because, well, PCs are remarkably combustible in a realm that deals 3d10 fire damage each round. The answer was to look to the great trade cities, which offer some protection from the heat. The City of Brass is the most famous of these (and is on the way), but what really jumped out at us was Zjarra, a cosmopolitan refuge that attracts commerce from across the multiverse. Not only is this appealing to the Exchange faction, but Zjarra is also the home of a dangerous informant who has offered her expertise in solving one of the Society's pressing problems—for a price. Venture-Captain Esmayl Ibn Qaradi has given the PCs the first crack at negotiating this planar metropolis in Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-09: Forged in Flame, Part 1: The Cindersworn Pact, a Tier 5-9 adventure!

In other news, traveling to the elemental planes and exploring elemental themes has warranted commissioning some really great art. Pictured here are an earth elemental, an efreeti information broker, and a Qadiran venture-captain who first appeared in Season 0 and now has his own handsome art—all illustrated by Giorgio Baroni.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer