Quoth the Tengu, "Adventure More"

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

One of the great advantages of working in the organized play medium is that we produce so many scenarios. That means that when there's a lot of fan interest in a certain area, group, or topic, we can usually look a little further down the schedule and say, "I think we could make some room here." Every since Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-13: Of Kirin and Kraken we've had more requests for adventures set in Kwanlai and featuring tengus. For that matter, ever since Taldor was a Pathfinder Society faction, players and GMs have asked me when they'd be able to bring about serious reform in that nation—admittedly some were asking so that they could snag a better noble title. This month we're doing both, and we're really pleased with the scenarios releasing today.

For all Kwanlai's outward appearance as a unified nation, it's a diverse confederation of tengu clans that often contend with each other over power, religion, and deeply rooted feuds. The isolated village of Yiangma is a spectator in many of these feuds, instead dedicated to maintaining an ancient shrine with heavenly ties. However, the village's priests have not sent any report to its archon contact, Zepha, in a long time. Concerned that something might be wrong, Zepha tasks the PCs in Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-12: Shrine of the Sacred Tempest with traveling to Yiangma to check in, after which they are free to study the settlement's priceless relics and history for the Society.

In this Tier 1-5 adventure by Justin Juan, the PCs explore a village comprised almost entirely of tengus, immersing the PCs in rural Kwanlai's culture and the greater region's history. Naturally, we couldn't present a Kwanlai scenario without highlighting the tengus' favorite deity, the tempestuous Hei Feng, and we're very excited about the excellent illustrations by Tom Ventre that appear in this scenario. It should also come as no surprise that any task so closely tied to an archon also has strong Silver Crusade connections, too. Finally, if you're dismayed that such a fun scenario's too low level for your beloved tengu character, I'm happy to report that there's a Tier 5-9 scenario coming up in this region in a few more months.

Illustrations by Tom Ventre

Ever since my colleague Crystal Frasier and I began planning the War for the Crown Adventure Path, we wanted to tell the story of Taldor's succession conflict from the perspective of multiple campaigns. Not only does that approach demonstrate that such major events don't happen inside a vacuum, but this development has also remained one of the Sovereign Court faction's top projects. Taldor's senate has been fiercely debating the antiquated rule of primogeniture, the nation's practice of passing the crown only to a male heir. On one side is Princess Eutropia, the reform-minded daughter of the current ruler. On the other is Grand Prince Stavian III, her increasingly paranoid father. The Sovereign Court backs Eutropia, and in the past several months' scenarios, Pathfinders have assisted this faction—both to help Lady Morilla as well as to secure historical resources that the Society's long wanted to study. Now it's all come to this: an imminent senate vote that coincides with a major Taldan holiday.

Remember how I mentioned Crystal and I were coordinating stories? One of my favorite elements is how this month's Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-13: The Lion's Justice happens at the same time as many events in Pathfinder #127: Crownfall, the first installment in War for the Crown, each portraying the action from a different angle. Sounds tough to coordinate? It's definitely taken some forethought and effort, yet our jobs were made so much easier by convincing Thurston Hillman (also our Starfinder Society Developer) to write both adventures. This experiment in product interaction—and this Tier 7-11 scenario with Sovereign Court ties—wouldn't have been the same without his tireless contributions.

And if these bold illustrations by Sebastian Rodriguez are any indication, it's all paid off beautifully. Anyone who's mocked Taldor's competences has clearly never had to face down its greatest knights.

Illustrations by Sebastian Rodriguez

Finally, you'll notice that #9-13 has a rather weird boon on its Chronicle sheet, and I'd like to explain that for anyone wondering.

Spoilers for The Lion's Justice

For a long while we've noticed that the Pathfinder Society doesn't have much of a retirement plan. Sure, there was the old wisdom that one's career ended at 12th level—which we've since dispelled with sanctioned modules and ongoing seeker-level content—but what happens after a PC decides to hang up her greatsword, change careers, or even retire in-world?

To this end, we've included a boon with the Legacy tag on this scenario's Chronicle sheet. A Legacy boon doesn't necessarily have any mechanical benefits. Instead, its primary purpose is to note the meaningful impact your character had on the world, whether that's changing a country or just changing a life. We also intend for Legacy boons to convey some in-world perk with long-lasting effects, much as is the case in this adventure, with your character having a place where everyone's always ready to treat her like family. Finally, adding a specific tag allows us to consider future boons that might interact with Legacy boons, allowing us to tie together these events more cleanly.

Overall, though, it's a reminder of something good that you did. Enjoy!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

Order of the Amber Die—The Azlant Odyssey, Part 2

Monday, January 29, 2018

Those Adventure Path marathoners from the Order of the Amber Die are back again with a report from their play through of Pathfinder Adventure Path #122: Into the Shattered Continent! As usual, there be spoilers! Read the following at your own risk!

In our first marathon of The Azlant Odyssey, we got off to the finest start in any of our projects for the Paizo Blog: we discovered an ample amount of treasure, held party deaths to a zero count, and acquired enough allies to put together a solid team for any challenge that might present itself. For this second marathon, we wanted to capitalize on our early gains by significantly developing the colony of Talmandor's Bounty while exploring the island around it, and "Into the Shattered Continent" offered exactly that.

To enhance immersion, we brought the beach to us by utilizing AdventureScents to make the room smell like a sandy coast. We also engaged several live-NPCs to play the roles of colonists and other indigenous inhabitants of ancient Azlant, complete with a locathah mask that stared back at us the entire time. Lastly, our GM assembled a collection of images to project on the wall that matched locations we'd be visiting, as well as a soundtrack that included hours of waves crashing against the shore.

This adventure was divided into three parts, with the first being one of the largest sandboxes we've ever come across in 145 published adventures that we’ve played. So massive, in fact, that we pushed our GM near the limit and broke our record for the longest single marathon in Order of the Amber Die history!

• Adventure: Pathfinder Adventure Path #122: Into the Shattered Continent
• Marathon Length: 119 hours, 45 minutes
• Session Hours: 68 hours, 10 minutes

Highlights from Into the Shattered Continent:

• The marathon opened with shock and betrayal. Having accidentally chosen to bring two dominated colonists into our midst at the end of "The Lost Outpost", they turned against the colony in the downtime between adventures. Orchestrating a surprise raid by skum, the traitors targeted our spellcasters and caught nearly all of them alone or off-guard. Two of the colony's respected priests were slain, but we fought off the assault with aid from a couple of celedons, whom afterwards insisted on teaching all present how the goddess Acavna (not the party) had granted us a successful defense of the colony.
• Searching the ruins of Azlant has turned up much in the way of Pathfinder Society lore, and through opportunity three of us are now members (Ezren, Kyra, and Lyra). Alright, we'll stop holding back. We got to follow in the footsteps of an expedition from the first EVER Pathfinder Chronicles! And there's more...
• The island of Ancorato is not an easy place to traverse, and it literally bled us: blood-sucking stirges, a blood-obsessed sea hag, blood-draining ugothols, a blood-siphoning shark, blood-feeding plants, blood-drinking chupacabras, blood-frenzied sahuagin, blood-empowered vampiric mists, and an evil gillman cleric with the blood subdomain. Lesser restoration, please?
• In the final encounter, we faced our second betrayal when our closest friend and confidant, Carver Hastings, turned into a faceless stalker who had long ago replaced him. Worse, his allies—also former friends but now stalkers—tried to burn us alive in the colony's government building. All but Ezren escaped out of the windows, when Valeros decided to eschew safety by kicking down the front doors and going back in after the old man. With Kyra's air bubble to protect him from smoke inhalation, the fighter waded into the flames to save our wizard, and gave us one of the best slow-motion rescues of any campaign.
• The Amber Die itself got behind this adventure and dished out some pain, with nine natural 20s that left some heroes facedown. We dodged the die when it mattered most, though!

The Odyssey

Author Robert Brookes referred to this adventure as "a sandbox of exploration and discovery," and its myriad encounters perfectly expanded the feel of our continuing odyssey. While survival was the premier skill for volume one, diplomacy became the focus skill of volume two. We entreated a water naga for aid, stopped a witch hunt, quelled a hunger strike, bartered with locathah, counseled a larcenous teenager, forged an alliance with indigenous creatures, intervened when tensions rose among colonists, solved a kidnapping, comforted a blind cyclops, and traded magic items with a paguroida.

Character Deaths

While we don't have any iconic character deaths to report, we did want to devote this section to a colonist whom we had come to know and respect. Anya Sandstrider accompanied us on several excursions, where she taught us how to better spot danger, discover tracks, and even hunt boar. Our mistake was taking our friend out of her element on our deepest dive yet: a reef swarming with sahuagin and sharks. When we were surrounded by hammerheads and the future was murky, it was her spear and timely calm animals that gave us a momentary lifeline. Ezren fired off a buoyancy spell and we shot for the surface, but it wasn't until we reached air that we realized Anya wasn't with us anymore.

Best Quote From Marathon 2

Adam (GM): Alright guys, welcome to marathon two of The Azlant Odyssey. Kyra, make a Fort save or die, coup de grace.
Kyra (nervously): Ummm...ummm...ummm...24?
Adam (GM): You survive. Twelve damage. You awaken from a normal night's sleep to see a skum standing over you, with its trident in your gut and blood spilling out onto the sheets. Roll initiative.

Current Situation

We managed to thoroughly scout the island, discover generous Azlanti lore, and fend off an attack from within by an enemy we know very little about. Despite repeated betrayals from old friends, we couldn't have made it through this adventure without our newfound allies: a locathah ranger named Koloshkora, and a young strix oracle called Oorka. Our party now has the ability to draw on playmakers that excel in specific environments, with the locathah leading underwater, and the strix aiding overland. Our next move is to figure out who or what has been guiding the repeated attempts to subvert our colony—and eliminate them.

More Content

For character builds, questions about The Azlant Odyssey, additional content and more, see our thread here on the Paizo forums.

Follow Order of the Amber Die on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube.

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

When Plants Attack!

Monday, January 28, 2018

Good Moonday, Pathfinders!

Last week, I previewed a few of the figures from the forthcoming Jungle of Despair set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures from WizKids, including the case incentive Hydra.

The mythical hydra's heads aren't the only thing growing wildly in the depths of the jungle, however. Today, we explore some of the verdant villains featured in the set, sure to seal player characters' floral fates. That's right—plant monsters!

Among the most iconic plant creatures in the game, and the bane of low-level adventurers everywhere is the well camouflaged Murder Vine. All too often unsuspecting explorers stumble across the remains of their predecessors, their treasures still intact, while hacking through the dense foliage of a forest or jungle, only to discover that the vines winding through the corpses are not so benign. This Large miniature, released at the Uncommon rarity, features just such remains, certain to remind your players of just how deadly a threat they're facing when it plops down on the battle mat.

While many would-be treasure seekers fall victim to murder vines and litter the jungle with their desiccated bones, not all prey of predatory plants are so lucky. Those who die at the tendrils of other mulchy menaces may be infected by their seeds and raised as fungal zombies! The culprit of such nefarious natural schemes is none other than the Musk Creeper, whose animated spawn not only serve as protectors of their parent vine, but act as seed carriers when they inevitably wander off into the jungle and die, creating a new plant to further torment future explorers. The Musk Creeper is a Medium Uncommon figure.

Other plants, such as a particularly pernicious variety of reddish brown mold, create not zombies, but intelligent pygmy plant men whose primitive societies spread through the jungles of the world. These Mold Runts hold their progenitor corpse, from whose innards they spring, wholly formed after the subject dies from exposure to the mold, in almost religious reverence, and often craft crude weapons out of the bones or equipment found on their birthing corpse. While weak in small numbers, these diminutive plant people are truly a force to be reckoned with in large numbers. The Mold Runt is a Small Common figure, allowing GMs to easily collect multiple copies with which to overwhelm their players.

Finally, another iconic plant makes its Pathfinder Battles debut in Jungle of Despair: None other than the hulking Shambler, whose formless bulk strikes fear into any explorer with even a passing result on her Knowledge (Nature) skill check. Dangerous in its own right, a Shambler exposed to electricity—either from a poorly planned magical attack, a natural lightning storm, or a nearby nest of static-charged lizards—flies into a rampage, absorbing the energy into itself and making it all the harder to bring down. Appearing as little more than moldering heaps of rotting vegetation, Shamblers are especially deadly when they infiltrate mulch piles and refuse pits, catching unsuspecting victims in their constricting tendrils. The Shambler is a Large Uncommon figure.

But surely adventurers the likes and caliber of most Pathfinder player characters will defeat these threats handily, right? Reducing Shambler, Musk Creeper, and Murder Vine alike to little more than salad? Mmmm, salad.* How about next week we look at something that goes perfectly with any salad? I am, of course, referring to dressing!

Mark Moreland
Franchise Manager

*My wife, were she to read this blog, would surely require I clarify that I have never uttered this phrase before in my life, though she would like me to.

Starfinder Adventure Path News!

Friday, January 26, 2018

As we head into the new year and the second half of the Dead Suns Adventure Path, it seems like a good time to update folks on what to expect from the Starfinder Adventure Path in the near future. Since the release of the Starfinder Core Rulebook last year, one thing we've heard over and over is that people want more Starfinder! To that end, starting in August 2018, the Starfinder Adventure Path goes monthly! That means a new adventure will be available every month, and you'll get at least two full Starfinder campaigns every year.

But that's not all! Also in August 2018, the second Starfinder Adventure Path will present a complete Starfinder campaign in just three volumes, followed by another three-volume Adventure Path in November. Not only will this make for shorter, and hopefully more manageable, campaigns, but it will also enable us to experiment even more with the traditional Adventure Path format going forward. This isn't the end of the six-volume Adventure Path, however. We'll be returning to that length in 2019, and our plan is to release new Starfinder Adventure Paths in both three-volume and six-volume formats in the future—whichever works best for the stories we want to tell.

Whether it's three volumes or six, the Starfinder Adventure Path will still have all of the same content you've come to expect. In addition to the adventures themselves, each volume features additional articles that provide more detail on the Starfinder campaign setting and present new options for players, as well as new alien creatures in the Alien Archives, a new planet to explore in the Codex of Worlds, and a new starship in every installment.

So what can you expect from our first monthly, three-volume Starfinder Adventure Path, debuting in August? It's the Against the Aeon Throne Adventure Path, which pits the heroes against the might of the tyrannical Azlanti Star Empire! To succeed, the heroes must liberate a Pact Worlds colony in the Vast from Azlanti occupation and infiltrate the Star Empire to rescue captive Pact Worlders from imprisonment. At the same time, the heroes will need to prevent the Azlanti from getting their hands on an experimental piece of technology that could shift the balance of power in the galaxy!

The first Against the Aeon Throne adventure, "The Reach of Empire," hits store shelves and paizo.com in August, followed by a new volume every month. Do your heroes have what it takes go Against the Aeon Throne?

Robert G. McCreary
Creative Director

Journey to the Pact Worlds

Thursday, January 25, 2018

We're just little over a month away before the next hardcover addition to Starfinder releases! Starfinder Pact Worlds is your guide to the 14 major worlds at the heart of the Starfinder campaign setting. Before we start revealing the content of Pact Worlds, we wanted to show off the book's amazing new cover by artist Remko Troost!

This book will be full of information about the civilizations of the Pact Worlds system, new aliens, starships, and all kinds of options for your Starfinder game. What are you hoping made it into Pact Worlds, and what are you most excited about for Starfinder? Let us know in the comments!

Organized Play Potpourri

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

As January draws to a close, planning for our big conventions starts in earnest. Volunteer solicitations for PaizoCon and Gen Con went out, but that is the first step in a long list of tasks. Last week, the Organized Play team met and made decisions as to what scenarios/events to offer at each of the big conventions – PaizoCon, Origins, and Gen Con, as well as what special events would be on offer at UKGE and PaizoCon UK. Now we need to get granular and start looking at the daily schedules and numbers of tables.

Before we jump into convention chat, the org play team wanted to take a minute and revisit two other topics under discussion recently. The first is the Regional Support Program and the second is the retirement of the Scarab Sages Faction.

Regional Support Program

Last year, we indicated the Regional Support Program would run from 1 Feb 2017 to 31 Jan 2018, and that we would evaluate it for renewal heading into Feb 2018. The program last year met our goals of getting convention style benefits into GMs hands and promoting play in local stores and communities. Thus we will continue it for the 2018/19 cycle. At this point, John, Linda, and Thurston are putting the final touches on the new package and we hope to have it available for download to Venture-Officers by the end of the month. Qualifying events start 1 Feb. If you are unsure what is needed to run the program, visit our policy page for more information.

We received feedback from participating GMs who noted that not everyone completed their 2017/18 cards and that they would appreciate a chance to get their rewards for running games over the past year. The team discussed the issue and is extending the completion deadline for 2017/18 cards. During the 2018/19 RSP season, a GM may choose to check a box on their old card or their new card for every game run. Only one box may be checked per game. This change only applies to completing cards. No 2017/18 cards may be issued after 31 Jan 2018.

Scarab Sages

Thank you to all who posted feedback on the December 13 blog discussing mid-season faction changes. Taking this feedback into consideration, the team decided to not retire the Scarab Sages, but rather to make the faction inactive. All characters currently part of the Scarab Sages may retain their membership in the faction. Mechanically, this allows current faction members to accrue Prestige Points and Fame, buy vanities, and continue to complete faction journal card goals. However, there will be no new faction journal card produced for the faction in Season 10, and scenarios are unlikely to provide ongoing stories focused on the faction. This blends the requests of our player base with how the team sees the storylines progressing for the Society as a whole.

This change also means that with the publication of an updated Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide in the coming weeks, characters will no longer be able to join the Scarab Sages faction. If you would like to change your character's faction from the Scarab Sages to any other faction, you may do so at a cost of 0 Prestige Points. You should perform this change either by August 2nd, 2018 or at the beginning of the next adventure the character plays, whichever occurs last.

Convention Chat

With the other topics covered, I now return to convention information. Planning conventions the size of PaizoCon, Origins, and Gen Con, is nigh impossible without a team of leads and an army of volunteer GMs and HQ staff. First, a huge thanks to everyone who already volunteered for a 2018 event (or two or three). I’m starting to send out PaizoCon volunteer acceptance letters and look to have them done by the first of February. Gen Con letters are also in the pipeline and volunteers should see them soon. We are currently putting the Origins volunteer plans together and will publish that information asap.

Second, if you haven’t volunteered and would like to, there is still time. PaizoCon is mostly full, but we usually have a few cancellations before the event. Gen Con still has space, including for 8-block volunteers qualifying for hotel rooms. To volunteer for PaizoCon, complete this questionnaire For Gen Con, follow this link to the volunteer questionnaire.

One of the first tasks needing completion involves assembling a leadership team for each convention, without which the planning and running would be almost impossible. Below are the teams for each of the big three Paizo sponsored events. They assist with almost every aspect of the convention, from set up/tear down to schedule planning to on-site volunteer coordination. If you are interested in working as a lead/department head for one of the Paizo-sponsored conventions in 2019, speak to one of the people listed below and they can get you involved this year to see what goes into planning these conventions.

PaizoCon 2018
Leads—Louis Manko Levite & Walter Sheppard

Origins 2018
Lead—Michael McNerney
Assistants—Michael Costello, June Soler, Luke Woods

Gen Con 2018
Leads—Bob Jonquet, Todd Morgan, Lucas Servideo, Heather Vigil
Department Heads:

Demo—Kevin Baumann
ACG—Jen McTeague
PSA—Alexandra Melone
HQ—Joe Mathos
Assistant HQ—Michael VonHasseln

Administration Assistant—Alison Ooms

Next week we release the January scenarios for Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society, so we'll have two blogs. Tune in next Wednesday for a preview of what is in store!

Tonya Woldridge

Organized Play Manager

Until next time – Explore, Report, Cooperate!

The (Not Quite) World of Ruin

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

This month sees the epic* conclusion to the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path. Subscribers have already got their hands on digital copies of Pathfinder Adventure Path #126: Beyond the Veiled Past and print copies are soon to follow. As the author for "Beyond the Veiled Past," I'm thrilled to see this adventure finally getting out into the wild... because I've been holding onto some secrets.

After our glorious Managing Developer, Adam Daigle, assembled the Ruins of Azlant writing team, all of us writers began conspiring together. As the author of the final adventure, I ended up with the challenging task of ensuring that various plots established earlier in the adventure path came to a suitably climactic conclusion. Ever a fan of traditional RPG video games, I've always had a soft spot for the "searching for friends" moment; a portion of the story where the PCs end up doing a montage journey to places they've visited in earlier adventures. I worked close with a lot of fellow authors, especially those handling the earlier adventures, to weave in some strong connections between past events and the end of the campaign. So, expect to see a lot of familiar faces and vistas in the opening act of this adventure!

Azlant was (and still is) a very crazy place. Researching all the written Azlanti lore in Paizo products was one of the more fun projects prior to writing the adventure. Myself and other authors would banter back and forth about some random revelation we had discovered in a sourcebook about the Azlanti or their alghollthu foes. Chats were alight with things like "They literally created new races" to "They colonized other solar systems!" (turns out that last one might have some ramifications.) Getting a chance to play with alghollthu and Azlanti toys in a high-level setting turned out to be really rewarding, and led to the creation of some pretty ridiculous inventions and NPCs.

In my mind, it's not a good adventure if you can't sneak in a few setting references. Whether it be inserting a reference to an NPC who led the invasion of your developer's pet continent or putting in a named version of a monster you wrote for a previous adventure path backmatter, being the author has its perks. While "Beyond the Veiled Past" is laden with new revelations and further hints for ongoing campaign setting mysteries, I'd have to say that there's one reference that stands above the rest. As someone with strong ties to Paizo's Organized Play program, I've always had a strong interest in the Pathfinder Society organization. With this adventure, I had the opportunity to answer a question about one of the more mysterious elements of the Pathfinder Society's leadership: what's up with the Decemvirate Helms? Turns out, these artifact level helmets had a completely different role in ancient Azlant. You'll need to read (or play) this adventure to find out what!

Overall though, Ruins of Azlant is really about one thing: the alghollthu and Azlanti conflict. Such was the power of these two great empires, that even millennia after their war's cataclysmic conclusion, the echoes of their conflict can potentially reshape the world. Along with the adventure I had the pleasure of writing, the backmatter articles in this adventure go on to give GMs the ability to take their campaign, even new campaigns, "beyond the veiled past" and into modern Golarion. Exploring the ruins of Azlant was just the beginning; now it's up to the players to stop the veiled masters.

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

*I choose my words carefully. If the PCs aren't equally as careful, that last encounter goes well into the epic CR range. But don't blame me, I was just writing to spec; you can blame Adam for the [REDACTED].

Enter the Jungle of Despair!

Monday, January 22, 2018

Greetings, Pathfinders!

It's been a while since the last Pathfinder Battles preview blog, in part because the blog, like the proverbial torch, has passed to a new patron: Me! As Paizo's Franchise Manager, I work closely with all of our licensors to ensure that their products are the highest quality and accurately reflect both the Pathfinder and Starfinder brands. This includes, of course, the Pathfinder Battles line of pre-painted plastic miniatures from our longtime partner, WizKids!

And what better debut blog content than the announcement of a new set?

In May, WizKids and Paizo will be releasing the fourteenth (!) full set in the line: Pathfinder Battles: Jungle of Despair. This set features 44 randomized figures, plus six new pieces of set dressing, all themed around jungle exploration, ancient ruins, and (mostly) natural threats. As with past sets, those fans who purchase a full case of Jungle of Despair will be eligible to purchase a Huge case-incentive figure, and man is this one fun!

Hydras are a classic jungle threat, dating back to ancient Greek mythology, and we're happy to introduce the legendary beast to Pathfinder Battles with this incredible figure. While it's impressive on its own, what really makes this sculpt exciting are its interchangeable heads. That's right. When your neophyte adventurers chop one of the beast's five heads off without proper application of fire to the writhing stub, you can simply replace the single head with two, representing in exquisite plastic detail the growing threat facing the poor player characters. Check out both the 5- and 10-headed versions of the Hydra!

The hydra isn't the only serpentine threat found in Jungle of Despair, either! The featured villains in this set are none other than the sinister, ancient serpentfolk, who ruled the world for thousands of years before the advent of pesky, warm-blooded humanity. The Serpentfolk Cleric, below, is just one of the new serpentfolk figures in the set (stay tuned for previews of the rest in the coming weeks). The Serpentfolk Cleric is a Medium uncommon figure.

Not all serpentine threats in the set are members of the psychic ophidian race, however. Some, like the Hollow Serpent, are undead monstrosities the serpentfolk create to defeat their foes. Animated from the sloughed-off skin of a giant snake, the Hollow Serpent is a perfect high-level threat for any serpentfolk-based campaign (including the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path). The Hollow Serpent is a Large Rare figure.

The jungle also serves as home to countless natural inhabitants, including innocent animals and vermin just trying to get by in a harsh, unforgiving world. Take this Giant Leech, for example. It doesn't mean you any harm, really. It's just hungry. Why'd you have to go swimming through that murky water in the first place? You had it coming, honestly. The Giant Leech is a Medium Common figure, meaning you're likely to get a few of them in your collection, and you can fit eight of them around the typical player character for some bloodsucking fun.

Finally, we have the mischievous Tanuki—raccoon-like monstrous humanoids inspired by Japanese mythology and common in the temperate forests of Tian Xia. While they often appear in disguise as other creatures (especially when infiltrating sake-filled festivities in human civilizations), this figure represents the creature as it's most likely to appear in combat against the player characters. The Tanuki is just one of several protectors of the natural world found in Jungle of Despair, but certainly the cutest! The Tanuki is a Medium Uncommon figure.

That's it for this week's preview! Fans with max ranks in Perception may note that WizKids previewed all of these figures last fall when they announced the set, but have no fear! Next week it's all new reveals — When Plants Attack!

Pathfinder Battles: Jungle of Despair releases in May 2018 and can be preordered now!

Until next week,

Mark Moreland
Franchise Manager

You're Gonna Flip Over These Tiles!

Friday, January 19, 2018

I have a secret to share: change isn’t always bad. This spring we are making a significant change to one of our Pathfinder Maps lines. Pathfinder Map Pack: Starship Decks is that last of the Pathfinder Map Pack line. But don’t fret, we are not giving up on modular mapping tools, they are just getting an upgrade. We are replacing Map Packs with a new line of maps called Pathfinder Flip-Tiles!

This new line launches this April, with the release of Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Dungeon Starter Set, the first of a number of base sets that serve as one of the anchor points for the new line.

Flip-Tiles have a few marked differences from the older line.

As you’ve probably guessed, these tiles are double-sided, allowing us to present more mapping options per set, and allowing you to change adventure scenes with a mere flip of the tile! But that’s not all. We’re changing the size of the tiles. Each Flip-Tiles is a 6-inch by 6-inch square. The new configuration provides increased flexibility and ease of use, and since each tile is double-sided, this nearly doubles the play space each tile offers. The square side leaves little to ponder when you piece together your dungeon. If that were not enough, each of the new sets presents more tiles than the previous Map Pack line. While each Map Pack contained 18 tiles, Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Dungeon Starter Set packs a walloping 42 tiles – or 84 sides of dungeon corridors and rooms, giving you an amazing array of possibilities right out of the gate.

You not only gain more tiles that are easier to use, but we have also changed the way we present and expand the line. The Dungeon Starter Set is that—a start. On the heels of its release comes the first expansion set—Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Dungeon Perils. While the Dungeon Starter Set provides tools for creating basic dungeon complex, Dungeon Perils details corridors and areas with possible traps, hazards, and difficulties the PCs will have to explore or avoid. Down the line, other dungeon expansion packs will further build on the Dungeon Starter Set, granting you greater flexibility to develop whatever crazy dungeon your imagination conjurers. Each expansion pack is made up of 24 tiles—or 48 sides of dungeons, providing a wealth of more mapping options.

Of course, the line’s dungeon offerings are only the beginning. The future will see the release of more starter sets and more expansions to those sets, expanding the line into a number of different terrain types. You can get a hint at some of our initial plans for the line when you open the Dungeon Starter Set, as some of the tiles already feature tiles that will connect to future sets.

I know what some of you are thinking. But, Stephen, I have every single Map Pack, even multiples of some. What am I supposed to do with those? Worry not. Jason Engle is doing the art for these tiles too, and wherever possible, these tiles are designed to match or compliment art styles already found in the Map Pack line. While the sizes are different, the basic structure and motif of these tiles are fully compatible with your current Map Pack collection.

No matter if you are a grizzled veteran of our map products, or you have been thinking of starting your collection, I think you're going to like Flip-Tiles.

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Pathfinder RPG Senior Designer and map guy

Homebrew Special: The Call of the Gods

Thursday, January 18, 2018

For our latest entry in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game homebrew series, we turn to Ron Lundeen, who's made a habit of crafting entire homebrew PACG Adventure Paths for free, posted on Ron's website. You should play them all, says us. (By the way, Paizo recently hired Ron as an RPG developer. Congratulations, Ron!)

I wanted to talk a bit about my latest variant Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, God Callers of Sarkoris. Let me open with a confession: I absolutely adore the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, but I didn't much care for the Wrath of the Righteous set. Although it introduced a lot of interesting new mechanics, including cohorts, the mythic rules didn't scale in a way that I liked; overall, the set didn't resonate with me. This was a shame because, in playing through the game, I was frequently delighted to see items that I'd created for the RPG make their way into card form (such as Barding of Pleated Light and Pauper's Thighbone).

I wrote the book on that book, is what I'm saying.

I'd created an entire variant adventure path for the Rise of the Runelords set, called Shield of Rannick, as well as a variant adventure path for Skull and Shackles, called Bloodlust Corsairs. My variant adventure paths don't require new cards; they just let you use the cards you already own in new ways. I initially said I wasn't going to design a variant adventure path for Wrath of the Righteous, but my inner game designer just wouldn't let it go. It kept nagging at me with questions and insisting on answers.

Why didn't I like Wrath of the Righteous? Well, I didn't like the mythic components (mythic charges and mythic paths). Could the mythic aspects be jettisoned? Far fewer than half of the cards use those mechanics... but the basic blessings do, as well as many villains, barriers, and late-game armors. So I explored the idea of replacing them with something else, and eventually decided to use some neat Skull and Shackles cards to fill in those holes.

Or appear to fill in those holes.

Now I realized I was actually going to design something, so I set to work. For my previous variant Adventure Paths, I'd set out all the villains, henchmen, and locations and thought, "What new story do these cards want to tell?" That's pretty hard to do when you know the RPG adventure background (that Fort Rannick is a ranger fort overrun with ogres, for example), and I normally have to work hard to separate my RPG knowledge from what is plainly written (and illustrated) on the cards in front of me. But that wasn't so hard this time, because I'd never actually played the RPG version of Wrath of the Righteous. It should therefore have been easy to mix them around. Still, I kept coming back to the same story: the heroes go into the Worldwound and kill a bunch of demons. I thought that story had already been told quite well, and I needed something new.

I've done a lot of writing for the RPG and I knew quite a bit about the lore of the area around the Worldwound: it was once a barbarian nation called Sarkoris. To me, Sarkoris had a lot of the feel of the old Conan stories, with barbarian kings and witches and decadent cities and the triumph of brawn over beasts. Plus, its summoners called pieces of gods to their sides—that was really neat. It hit me that I didn't want to set my variant in the Worldwound; I wanted to set it before the Worldwound, in the time of Sarkoris.

It further struck me that I'd need some mechanic to "power up" the characters if I took mythic paths away, or even the ordinary monsters and barriers would be too tough. Rather than a straight numerical increase, I wanted to give some flexibility to all the characters; this took the form of additional "supercharged" power feats. I also wanted to offer some variety, so I gave players a choice of bonus power feats. A sudden idea simultaneously solved the power problem and gave my variant adventure path its name: I'd let all the characters tap into the deific powers of Sarkorian god callers. The cohort rules already showed how summoners worked (thanks, Balazar!), so I assigned everyone a cohort that gave them powers to "level up" over time. Everyone would be god callers of Sarkoris! The specific abilities were revised and refined several times, thanks to a lot of good feedback on the forums here.

Share the love, god caller Alase.

Let me jump on a legal tangent to say that my variant adventure paths are free; they have to be, because I produce them under Paizo's Community Use Policy. That policy forbids charging for products, but it opens up tons of fantastic art for use. The Community Use Policy doesn't let you use Paizo's storylines (I couldn't reproduce the plot of one of their RPG adventure paths, for example) or most of Paizo's maps.

But I really wanted a map to show all the neat locations in fallen Sarkoris; this map would also show how the characters travel across the land in their adventures. Fortunately, I know a talented cartographer named Marco Morte, and he put a map together for me at a reasonable rate. To sketch out that map—and, in fact, the whole plot of God Callers of Sarkoris—I relied on information about the Worldwound. (I later learned that Paizo had already produced a map of Sarkoris, tucked into Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Kingdoms, and my map wasn't too far off the "official" one.) You can see Marco's map prominently displayed in God Callers of Sarkoris, available from welbybumpus.com, but here it is for your enjoyment.

Note: The map image above is not available for use under the Paizo Community Use Policy.

Give God Callers of Sarkoris a try; I've changed a few other things, like how servitor demons work, how recurring villains become nemeses, and so forth. It all playtested quite well, and I'd love to hear what you think!

Ron Lundeen
Developer

A Call to Vol II—Gen Con 2018!

Wednesday, January 17, 2017

I just finished attending MarsCon in Williamsburg, Virginia, and am making my way back to Seattle. An unexpected snowstorm kept me in Atlanta a bit longer than I planned, but piloting skill and no ice meant the plane flew today and I made it safely to Seattle this afternoon.

This weekend, badges for Gen Con went on sale. We sent the message out that our volunteer call would go live on Wednesday. So here it is! As the program continues to grow and evolve, we make changes from year to year to streamline processes and help the convention run smoothly. With over 300 volunteers and around 1700 tables of organized play games running, Gen Con is easily our largest event. This means even more attention on processes and efficiency. The changes below are the same adjustments we made to PaizoCon and are aimed at bringing all the large conventions into the same logistical umbrella.

First, we changed the nomenclature from session or slot to block. Each block is 5 hours. This unifies the terminology from the event support form used by our event organizers and keeps things consistent across the board.

Second, we ditched using the Tier system to describe how many volunteers. It is a RPGA holdover that caused confusion, as the lower number the tier, the more slots a person volunteered. Also, we have tiers for our scenarios, so having tiers for volunteers caused some confusion in our data. This year, you register for the number of 5-hour blocks you wish to volunteer.

Third, we are setting an 9-block maximum for volunteering, with the goal that no volunteer will do more than 8 blocks and that no one will be scheduled for more than 3 in a row. A full day is hard (been there, done that) and we want people to take breaks to sleep, eat, bathe, and see what the convention has to offer. This is really, really important, no matter how much of a GM/HQ machine you want to be!

Fourth, it is my understanding that the hotel lottery and badge refunds changed this year. I submitted our badge request and should be able to drop them into volunteer accounts as soon as we send out the acceptance letter and have an acknowledging email in reply. This should allow volunteers signing up for less than 8-blocks to submit their names for the hotel lottery, which occurs in February.

Fifth, we are looking at ways to streamline our processes and reduce the number of HQ personnel. In the interest of efficiency, we also are looking for volunteers willing to commit to 7 and 8 blocks. Anyone may volunteer for a HQ position, but I want to be forthright about the limitations of the position from the beginning.

Finally, we are looking to schedule tables bottom up, instead of top down. By starting off with a few tables of each scenario, then increasing based on ticket sales; we should be better poised to respond to player demand. Hopefully, this means that we will have fewer tables fail to make and fewer GMs released. Volunteers will have their block schedules before event registration opens, but may not have scenario list until late June/early July. We are still committed to getting scenarios into GMs hands at least 2 weeks before Gen Con starts. While this split schedule means more emails and paperwork, it should mean fewer changes at the last minute. Hopefully, a more streamlined system all around and more efficient use of our GM pool.

Block times:

Block	RPG/ACG GMs	HQ
Thursday Morning	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM	7:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday Afternoon	1:30 PM to 7:00 PM	1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Thursday Evening	7:30 PM to 1:00 AM	7:00 PM to 1:00 AM
Friday Overnight	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Friday Morning	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM	7:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Friday Afternoon	1:30 PM to 7:00 PM	1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Friday Evening	7:30 PM to 1:00 AM	7:00 PM to 1:00 AM
Saturday Overnight	1:30 AM to 7:00 AM	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Saturday Morning	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM	7:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Saturday Afternoon	1:30 PM to 7:00 PM	1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Saturday Evening	7:30 PM to 1:00 AM	7:00 PM to 1:00 AM
Sunday Overnight	1:30 AM to 7:00 AM	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Sunday Morning	8:30 AM to 2:00 PM	8:00 AM to 2:00 PM

We base benefits on how many blocks a volunteer commits to working. The chart below illustrates the breakdown:

Block Commitment	Hotel	Print Product	Badge	T-Shirts	Boon/Reward	Store Credit
8 Blocks	✔	✔	✔	✔	Choice of 3	✔
7 Blocks	—	✔	✔	✔	Choice of 3	✔
6 Blocks	—	✔	✔	✔	Choice of 2	✔
5 Blocks	—	—	✔	✔	Choice of 1	✔
4 Blocks	—	—	—	✔	Choice of 1	✔
3 Blocks	—	—	—	—	Choice of 1	✔
2 Blocks	—	—	—	—	—	✔
1 Block	—	—	—	—	—	✔

The details of each benefit are as follows:

• Room—One-quarter of a double room. Volunteers may indicate their roommates preferences when completing the questionnaire.
• Badge—A free 4-Day Gen Con 2018 badge
• Print Product—A FREE copy of one Paizo print product. Offerings are TBD, but will include at least one Starfinder and one Pathfinder title.
• T-Shirts—Limited release t-shirts (purple for GMs and orange for support staff) given every other year.
• Store Credit—Paizo.com store credit at $10 per slot
• Boon/Reward—A Gen Con exclusive boon/reward for Starfinder (RPG), Pathfinder (RPG), or Pathfinder (ACG).

Those interested in volunteering, please complete the Gen Con 2018 volunteer questionnaire. The leads and I will consider everyone who completes the form, but reserve the right to select volunteers who have worked at Gen Con in prior years. When you complete the form, please read all the question descriptions, as they give details for what information we need to place volunteers where they are best suited.

If you have questions, please put them in the comments section of the questionnaire or email them to GenConLeads@gmail.com. Also, if you are willing to help with cleanup Sunday afternoon after the GM meeting (usually 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM), please indicate your availability in the comments section of the questionnaire. Volunteers assisting with cleanup will receive pizza for dinner, one additional block of store credit, and potentially other goodies.

Huge thanks to everyone who gives of their time and resources to help make us the largest organized play program in the world. We couldn’t do it without you!!! You are simply the best volunteer team out there and it is my greatest pleasure to work with all of you!

Until our next blog—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge

Organized Play Manager

Occult Adventures Character Deck 1: Much Better than Bards

Thursday, January 11, 2018

You are feeling sleepy. Very sleepy. I'm going to count slowly backwards from 10 to 1. As I do, you'll find yourself relaxing and thinking of buying the Occult Adventures Character Deck 1.

You’re feeling spendy…

10. You will love it. It's much better than the Bard Class Deck. You're going to buy it again and again.

Do not think of Lem, my scurrilous fool of a half-brother! Instead, let us decorate your mind in your new most favorite thing: Me.

9. The deck contains the most important thing in the world. How could you do without the most important thing in the world? And it's oh-so-affordable. You could get one for yourself and one for each of your friends! And then another two for yourself and two more for each of your friends.

In mental combat, the size of one’s ego is all-important.

8. I am Meligaster. The singular most intelligent and charming individual you will ever meet. You can trust me in all things. Would anyone dishonest wear such a fashionable fez? As you can see, I am a master of wit and word, and a master of every creature I encounter. Including you.

So many helpful meat shields. I mean, allies.

7. I have many, many thralls friends. Every creature has a useful skill. I am accustomed to the finest of entertainers and the most unquestioning of bodyguards. On rare occasion, I even need someone in my retinue who can bend space and time. What are your uses?

Rivani believes she won our duel.

6. Even those who think themselves powerful are my friends, eventually. Rivani is able to pick up almost anything with her mind and wield it as deftly as you might wield a pen. If only she hadn't looked me directly in the eyes. Yes, exactly, these eyes. Look deep.

There are many sources of power other than gods. Me, for example.

5. Rivani and her ring, you might notice, are helpful for calling upon the power found within the heavens themselves. No, not the kinds with angels, but the signs found in the stars and constellations; the forces of fate and prophecy. A psychic who understands when and how to invoke their power, especially one who can call upon many different signs, can rewrite the world. As I have rewritten yours.

A mind without limits is a world without limits.

4. Sometimes it is necessary to get your hands dirty. Not mine, of course, but yours certainly. I'll stand right back here and puppet you about until the danger's past, mm? But don't worry. If you get hurt, I can put you back together again. Or at least a version of you.

Oh, look what wonderful gifts my friends brought me.

3. Oh, what wonderful gifts my friends give me, all on their own, without prompting. That means get me some gifts. Yes, right now. A second Occult Adventures Character Deck will do nicely, thanks. In the meantime, what have we here? Ah, a truly powerful tome for obtaining even more servants and some other trinkets. One truly nice thing about psychic treasure is that one's perception and ability to see the truth in reality gives you greater power. Never forget to be perceptive. Forget what I just said.

Honaire, I think this scoundrel needs a lesson in manners.

2. I am— OWWW!

Oh, knock off all that counting, whippersnapper. These fine folks aren't going to be gulled by your charlatan tricks. Honaire and I will knock that silly hat right off your head if your eyes so much as twitch this way. I was working marks since before you were born and Honaire here is immune to any of your tomfoolery. And you're not so immune to my cane! Sorry, dears. Meligaster is quite the rapscallion. Go on, now, and have yourselves a wonderful day.

Buy it again, and ag—! *CRACK*

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Designer

P.S. Obligatory ancient joke reference.

Guest Spotlight Blog: How to Run a Convention

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

One of the questions I often get asked is "how do I get organized play events started in my area?" There are many ways to answer this question, and I've turned to Venture-Lieutenant Carol Tierney in the UK to give her take. I've known Carol for years and her and I started planning conventions together. Before I turn it over to her, a bit of background.

In July 2010, my husband, Christopher (Crispy), attended PaizoCon UK II. He returned to our house excited to continue running and playing in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign (PFS). He gathered a few people from work and a couple weeks later started advertising Pathfinder Society games. He registered it on paizo.com and we started running PFS with event number 2886.

A year later, we both attended PaizoCon UK III, where he introduced me to many people he had been telling me stories about for the prior year. Our Society event kept attracting new players (and GMs) and we had a regular Wednesday night game. We also added a few new players to our home campaign. One of our home players, Jester, asked if their friend, Carol, could come along. "Of course," was our answer. Carol and Jester became fixtures of our gaming group. So much that they joined us on our pilgrimage to PaizoCon UK IV in 2012.

At the end of PaizoCon, I asked the visiting Campaign Coordinator, Mike, what I needed to do to run a convention and get Paizo support. His answer was short and sweet—"Plan it and send me an email." As we packed up to head home, I mentioned to Carol, Jester, and Crispy that all one needed to do to hold a convention was plan the event and send an email to Brock. Carol thought this great news. She jumped in feet first and we spent the car journey home discussing logistics of our first event. CrispyCon (event 15862) occurred 4 months later, in November 2012, with over 85 tables of play. CrispyCon II followed in June 2013 and CrispyCon III in November 2013, when Chris Brockley-Blatt joined the organization team.

When we left England in 2014, the event had a change of name to 3XP and continues to this day. Carol and Chris BB expanded their scope, planning events throughout the UK, including the upcoming Contingency in Hampshire, England. Carol wrote up her thoughts on planning conventions and I'm taking this opportunity to share them with our community. Though we automated some of the event support processes, the main criteria for running an event is still, "plan it and let us know!"

From Carol—

"The Wyrd Sisters" started literally because we went to a Pathfinder convention and came away thinking we could do that. A dangerous thought which has led to Tonya becoming OPM, and Chris Brockley-Blatt and myself taking VO positions in the UK. We have also organized several Pathfinder events each year and are now two-thirds of the organizing team for Contingency, one of the UKs biggest open gaming events. We have also raised £10,000 for charity, made a ton of friends and had a huge amount of fun along the way.

So, if you find yourself thinking, "I want to run a convention," my advice is to go for it. Especially if you are lucky enough to have a fabulous friend or two who is willing to do it with you. Don't tell everyone, but Pathfinder/Starfinder conventions can be surprisingly easy to run. Of course, an event like Contingency with 500+ players over 5 days is going to take a stupid amount of work but if you start small, you can definitely do it.

Contraption and 3XP are at the easy end of con-running. These are one/two day events for between 25 and 75 people. Now that we have our systems in place they take very little work. So this is our system—hopefully it will encourage you to start your own mini conventions

First of all you need to know you have a pool of GMs available to run games—when it comes to selling tickets people are going to want to be guaranteed a seat in a game in every slot so you can only sell as many tickets as you have spaces available. We are lucky enough in the UK to have loads of really great GMs who will happily give up their time to attend conventions and run games, but if you only have a couple of GMs you need to plan for a smaller event. GMs are your greatest asset, so we always try to make them know they are appreciated. At the very least, they should get a discount on attending and the chance for some time off to play and socialize. If you don't know many GMs talk to your local Venture-Officer (VO) team. They can help put you in touch with GMs (and will often be willing to run games themselves) - if you can't round up enough GMs your event will not work, so make sure you have this step covered before you go any further.

Once you have your team sorted, the hardest part is picking the right date. There are loads of gaming events on throughout the year, so finding a date that's not too close to an existing event can be a challenge and you want to avoid clashing with holidays or celebrations where people will want to be with their families. In the UK, there are lists of RPG conventions (https://www.philmasters.org.uk/RPGs/conventions.htm and ukroleplayers.com) plus the Pathfinder/Starfinder events list on paizo.com. Make sure you know what is happening and when and once you have your date make sure it gets added to any published calendars straight away so no-one else books the same date afterwards.

Next, find your location. Contraption started in a function room of a pub, 3XP in a community center, but there are other options like hotels, conference centers, libraries and church halls. All you need is somewhere with decent lighting and enough tables and chairs for everyone where your gamers can be kept away from any non-gamers using the same venue. You may be able to find a pub that will give you the room for free in return for having a captive audience who will buy food and drink throughout the day. If not, there are options available in all price brackets.

In the UK. most RPG conventions cost around £5 per game slot to attend, so starting small with just 2 game sessions and 20 people playing in each gives a budget of £200 to pay for your venue. Check that the venue hire includes Public Liability Insurance. If it doesn't you need to factor that into your budget as well. It should go without saying that you should budget based on the minimum attendance you expect. We always try to raise money for charity with Wyrd Sisters events, and making sure all the costs are covered up front is essential if you are going to do this. Make sure you keep a careful eye on the costs. You don't want to end up in debt and your venue is the biggest cost. If you keep that affordable you won't go wrong.

The last thing you need is a name—ideally something that will stand out from the other events so people will remember you, and then you can start to promote and organize the event.

The first thing Wyrd Sisters do at this stage is set up an event on Warhorn. Warhorn is a fantastic resource for anyone organizing gaming events. It does all the table planning for you with minimum effort, serves as a website for the event, and will even collect your admission fees. Make sure your budget includes a donation to keep the site running.

Once the Warhorn site is set up and ready to go, write an announcement and post it to every forum and social media outlet you can think of. Pro tip—if you set up a Facebook group for your event, you can keep people informed in the run up to the event, and going forwards the group is where you start next time knowing you will reach your core players quickly without having to go looking. Every time you have some news, post an update. Don't be surprised if it takes a while for people to sign up, most people need to read about something new three or four times before they decide to commit to it so you need to keep the event fresh in people's minds. Post when games are added to the schedule, talk about your awesome GMs and what they will be running, give travel and accommodation updates and so on—keep the conversation going.

Do not rely entirely on social media. Ask your gaming friends to tell all their gaming friends about the con. Make sure they're all coming, invite them personally. Put up flyers for your con in local games shops, book shops, etc. If you go to other events take flyers. Send out press releases to local news channels. Create a Google Alert for your con. That way, as soon as Google notices anyone post about your con, they'll send you an email and you can go join the discussion. The easiest mistake you can make is not advertising enough. People will only come if they know your event is happening.

When joining in the discussions remember that you are the face of your event. Moaning about players or GMs or anything else related to your event is likely to put people off attending. Share the good stuff and you'll make people feel enthusiastic for the event.

Once your event is confirmed talk to your local VOs /RVC and ask about con support—this is where Paizo really excels, there are people who can offer advice and support and if you will be reporting 15 or more games of PFS/SFS, you will also qualify for gift vouchers, boons to use at the event, and free scenarios for your GMs. You need to apply at least 2 months before the event but sooner is better.

Other things to consider in the run up to the event: You'll need to make sure people know how to get there—check out parking and public transport and make that information known. If you are running a two or more day event you'll also need to circulate details of where people can stay. People are going to need food/drink. If you aren't in a venue that sells food and drink, you'll need to let people know to bring their own or where to buy locally. In these days of online takeout ordering it's pretty easy, but make sure the venue is ok with people bringing in greasy/smelly food. If you want to raise a bit of money for charity think about a tuck shop or cake stall. We always have snacks and drinks on offer at 3XP and have found the easiest way is to have an honesty pot for donations and let people help themselves. Our players are incredibly generous when they know any profit is going to a good cause and it means we don't need staff running the stall. We also have unlimited tea and coffee on hand, we've found it works best to sell mugs and give away the drinks. It's better for the environment than disposable cups and having players own the mugs means they do the washing up, not us!

If you are using Warhorn, you can keep track of any players who have not found games to play and speak with them before the event to make sure this is by choice rather than lack of selection. You'll also be able to see which games fill fastest and if any are not working out so you can change the schedule if you need to. Check this regularly.

On the day, you will want to have a member of staff available at all times. There will be questions and hiccups. We usually find that once the first game session has started things quiet down, but even if it is really quiet having a member of staff available is essential, they will be needed for collecting reporting sheets, helping people find games, directing food deliveries, liaising with the venue, selling raffle tickets, issuing boons and all sorts of other things you won't have thought of before one of your players asks.

People always forget what they have signed up to play, so make sure you print out a copy of the sign ups from Warhorn and have it handy. This will also come in useful when players need to change games. For example, their 8th level character died in the last game so they no longer have a character in tier, or they've played a few games since they signed up and have leveled up so they are now too high for that game or they realize they already played the game they were signed up for. You can also use the Warhorn sheet to keep track of the reporting sheets, ticking off each game as it is handed on. You can print reporting sheets for the games from the event page on paizo.com, make sure you have plenty available as reporting games is essential.

If you qualify for boons, you'll want to have them printed and prefilled a much as possible so they just need to be signed. You'll also need to decide how you are going to distribute them. Whether you pick names out of a hat or give them as a reward for good role play or heroic deaths, roughly 1 in 10 players should get one.

You will need to have a stack of pregenerated characters (pregens) at every level available and a few new player numbers. Laminating the pregens means you won't have to keep reprinting them every time, especially if you also provide a wet erase pen to use with the sheet.

It's always a good idea to have a stationery box available with pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers and note paper. Marker pens and colored card are great for quick signage and don't forget Blutack and rubbish bags.

If you have Internet access in your venue, you can report games as they happen. This is the ideal way of doing it, as you'll have access to the players and GMs so can deal with mistakes and omissions as they crop up. Mistakes will crop up and not just with the reporting. Don't think that is a failing of your event—the only failing is if you don't act to sort them out when you notice them. You aren't aiming for perfection, just to give people a fun time.

Finally—when the event is over, ask for feedback. Ask people what they liked and what they would change and you'll get some great ideas which will help you make your next event even better. Trust me, there will definitely be a next event, nothing beats the feeling you get when you see a room full of happy Pathfinders/Starfinders playing together - reporting, exploring and co-operating because you made it happen.

Carol

Thanks to Carol for writing about her convention planning methods. If you have a topic you're passionate about and think others may enjoy, send it to me at organizedplay@paizo.com for review and inclusion in our blogs.

The Gen Con Lead team and I are working hard to get volunteer registration live before badges go on sale January 14th. If you are interested in volunteering, please keep an eye on this space for our "Call to Vol" blog!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge

Organized Play Manager

Stars, Volunteers, Conventions, and More!

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Wow! What a year we had in 2017. Thanks to you, our community, for supporting us in bringing the joys of roleplaying to more players than ever before. I look forward to seeing what we can do in 2018!

I'm currently on the road, enjoying the holidays with my family, then gearing up for 2018 convention travel by heading out to MarsCon. More on that below! The rest of the team is at Paizo HQ, working hard on upcoming scenarios, updating additional resources, and a few other projects we will expand upon in upcoming blogs. We've got lots planned and are hard at work making those plans become reality.

Stars and Novas

Over the course of 2017, several of our stalwart GMs reached their 5^th star milestone in PFS. Requirements to achieve 5 star status include running 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 be special scenarios, but are not indicative of hours spent preparing for events. A conservative estimate of time needed to reach 5* is 650 hours! To our GMs listed below, thank you very much for the time and energy you spend running Pathfinder Society games! Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

• Herman V Abelarde Jr
• Timothy Mace
• Miguel Madrid del Ama
• Stephen Ross
• Andrew Bourne

When we launched Starfinder Society, the organized play team chose to track GM activity for the two campaigns separately. As they are different systems and running one doesn't grant automatic familiarity with the other, it made sense. To keep the star theme, but make it different, we chose novas. At the time of announcement, we outline the requirements for reaching 5 novas, as we didn't expect any GM to reach that point in the first few months. Now that the campaign has a few months under its belt, and with the announcement of two scenarios a month, we are revisiting the topic of what milestones a GM must achieve to be recognized with the 5 nova status.

As this isn't just the org play teams campaign, it belongs to the players too, I wanted to give our community a chance to weigh in on what they would like to see the 5 nova status represent. Any criteria we use needs to be objective, measurable, obtainable, and equitable. As this can be a very hot topic, and one that may elicit polarizing opinions, I would ask you to send commentary via email to organizedplay@paizo.com. The team will read all commentary and use it in our discussion of policy.

Conventions

Our community hit the ground running in 2018 and has put together quite a few events spanning the globe! If you've wanted to travel to an event, but are unsure if there are Paizo organized play activities, this list should help you out!

Convention Name	Location	Start Date
MAGFest 2018	Washington ,DC	1/4/18
Start of the Year 2018	Geneva, Switzerland	1/4/18
PbP Community Multi Table Special III - Race for the Runecarved Key	Online	1/5/18
ShadowCon 2018	West Memphis, AR	1/5/18
SacAnime Winter 2018	Sacramento, CA	1/5/18
Midwinter Gaming Convention 2018	Milwaukee, WI	1/11/18
Arisia 2018	Boston, MA	1/12/18
MarsCon 2017	Williamsburg, VA	1/12/18
Niu yia 2018	León, Spain	1/12/18
Paradise City Comic Con 2017	Miami, FL	1/12/18
SCARAB 2018	Columbia, SC	1/12/18
PAX South 2018	San Antonio, TX	1/12/18
The Grand Lodge Parties On	Fresno, CA	1/13/18
Swampcon 2018	Gainesville, FL	1/13/18
Contingency 2018	Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK	1/17/18
Mammoth Con 2018	San Diego, CA	1/19/18
Winter War 45 (2017)	Urbana, IL	1/25/18
3rd Convention Pathfinder France	Paris, France	1/26/18
Cancon 2018	Canberra, ACT, Australia	1/26/18
Polar Vortex 2018	Glen Ellyn, IL	1/26/18
B-CON Winter 2018	Frankfurt am Main, Germany	1/27/18
Manaleak 2017	Birmingham, UK	1/27/18
AtomiCon Mini II	Durham, NC	2/2/18
CaptainCon 2018	Warwick, RI	2/2/18
FlintCon 2018	Flint, MI	2/3/18
GalaxyFest 2018	Colorado Springs, CO	2/9/18
LodgeCon 2018	Peotone, IL	2/10/18
GenghisCon 2018	Aurora, CO	2/15/18
BASHCon 2018	Toledo, OH	2/16/18
Con of the North	Minneapolis, MN	2/16/18
George WashingCon (2018)	Bloomington, IN	2/16/18
Dreamation 2018	Morristown, NJ	2/22/18
TotalCon 2018	Marlborough, MA	2/22/18
2nd Annual Boys and Girls Club Con	Bellevue, NE	2/23/18
OwlCon 2018	Houston, TX	2/23/18
ImperiCon 2018	Wixom, MI	2/24/18
CoNfUsIoN 2018	Utrecht, Netherlands	3/9/18
CosCon XXX 2016	Butler, PA	3/16/18
PFS MANCon 2018	Manchester, UK	3/23/18
Marmalade Dog 23	Kalamazoo, MI	3/30/18

Volunteer Opportunities

As we spin up 2018, watch for a few more Call to Vol blogs. We will need GMs/HQ personnel for Gen Con and Origins . We are also looking for volunteers willing to help demonstrate games in the Paizo booth at UK Games Expo and PAX Unplugged. Calls for Gen Con, Origins, and UKGE should go out within the first quarter, with PAX arrangements occurring in July/August.

I've got the list of PaizoCon volunteer registrations and will be working to match volunteers to tables over the week or two. I will send emails to all registrants regarding their status. For those that hadn't completed the form but wanted to volunteer, you can still register by completing the PaizoCon 2018 Volunteer Registration.

2018 Organized Play Staff Travel

Last month, I added a column to the convention list to show which events the organized play team planned on attending. While helpful, it didn't allow for much pre-planning, since event support requests submissions tend to be 1-2 months before the event. So this month, I've pulled together a list of all events in 2018 that will have an organized play staff presence. A few are listed as TBD and there may be some changes, as who attends depends on workloads and availability, but this is our currently planned itinerary.

If you are an event organizer and want to invite us out at your event in 2019, drop an email to organizedplay@paizo.com before next summer. We review our schedule in the fall and try to get all decisions wrapped by the end of the year.

Convention Name	Location	Start Date	Paizo Staff Attending
MarsCon 2017	Williamsburg, VA	1/12/18	Tonya
SCARAB 2018	Columbia, SC	1/12/18	John
OrcCon	Los Angeles, CA	2/16/18	John
TotalCon	Marlborough, MA	2/22/18	TBD
OwlCon 2018	Houston, TX	2/23/18	Tonya
Emerald City Comic-Con	Seattle, WA	3/1/18	Tonya, John, Linda
GaryCon	Lake Geneva, WI	3/8/18	Tonya
Gama Trade Show	Reno, NV	3/12/18	Tonya
GameStorm	Portland, OR	4/5/18	Linda
Quad Cities Game Fest	Quad Cities, IA	4/27/18	Tonya
PaizoCon	Sea-Tac, WA	5/25/18	Tonya, John, Linda
UK Games Expo	Birmingham, England	6/1/18	Tonya
Origins	Columbus, OH	6/13/18	Tonya, John
ALA Annual Conference	New Orleans, LA	6/20/18	Tonya
PaizoCon UK	Birmingham, England	7/20/18	Tonya
Gen Con	Indianapolis, IN	8/2/18	Tonya, John, Linda
DragonCon	Atlanta, GA	8/30/18	John
Fan Expo	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	8/31/18	TBD
SkalCon	Minnaepolis-St. Paul, MN	9/14/18	Tonya
Hurricon	Tampa, FL	9/27/18	Tonya
PaizoCon OZ	Brisbane, Australia	10/19/18	Tonya
U-Con	Ann Arbor, MI	11/9/18	Tonya
PAX Unplugged	Philadelphia, PA	11/30/18	Tonya

Spotlight Blogs

Some of my greatest enjoyment being part of organized play stems from sharing stories and experiences with our players. For those that garner the same enjoyment from sharing, I would invite you to submit a blog for the organized play team to highlight in our Wednesday blogs. Topics are flexible, as long as it relates to organized play, though we reserve the right to edit for content and clarity. Please send submissions to organizedplay@paizo.com with the subject Spotlight Blog.

Wow. That's a lot of information packed into the above paragraphs. I'll leave it there for now and continue on next week.

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge

Organized Play Manager