Check out what we have in store this week on Twitch!

Also if you’re interested in running your own Pathfinder or Starfinder streams, we released some awesome art assets which are free to use for your own shows! You can find them here.

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, Aug 31, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things, Aug 31, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, Sep 1, 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us

Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast, Sep 3, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

The Band of Bravos!, Sep 4, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest..

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Heroic Endeavors, Sep 4, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

Join Dragons & Things for another Pathfinder Second Edition adventure! Swords will clash, magic will be cast, and critical ones will bring these heroes to their knees. Journey with these heroic adventurers in their custom world of Val’Duren every Friday!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, Sep 5,, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Things in Space!, Sep 5, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

The Dragons & Things crew have blasted off into the wide and expansive universe of Starfinder! Strap yourselves in for an exciting and thrilling adventure through the Starfinder universe!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, Sep 6, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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Do you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder Live Play? Tell us in the blog comments below! We’re excited to see what stories you come up with.

We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

Fans of prepainted plastic gaming miniatures are no doubt familiar with the high-quality premium figures from our partners at WizKids, most notably the various Iconic Heroes sets we’ve released over the years. With the finest attention to detail of any mini in the Pathfinder Battles line, these figures raised the bar of what a prepainted miniature could be.

And in just a few weeks, WizKids will be releasing the first wave of Pathfinder Battles Premium Painted Figures. Sold individually, these six miniatures were designed for use as player characters, and present a variety of combinations of ancestry, class, and gender. In this debut wave, we’ve got the Half-Elf Ranger Male, Human Cleric Male, Half-Orc Barbarian Male, Elf Fighter Male, Human Rogue Female, and Human Rogue Male. Check out these previews of the figures below, available for preorder now and in stores everywhere on September 16.

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy

A dhampir human who wields sword and flame. A leshy vigilante who patrols the streets in a bright mask. A hobgoblin champion who looks positively dashing in his Golden Legion epaulets. Today, let’s take a bit of a look into how rarity and access combine to show what options are legal for use in Organized Play (and how you can play that dhampir leshy vigilante dragon disciple, if that’s what you want!).

Art by Warmics Mario Vazquez

What is Rarity?

Rarity is built into the ground level of Pathfinder Second Edition, which makes it very easy to use in the Pathfinder Society campaign. The Core Rulebook describes rarity:

"If no rarity appears in the traits of an item, spell, or other game element, it is of common rarity. Uncommon items are available only to those who have special training, grew up in a certain culture, or come from a particular part of the world. Rare items are almost impossible to find and are usually given out only by the GM, while unique ones are literally one-of-a-kind in the game. The GM might alter the way rarity works or change the rarity of individual items to suit the story they want to tell.

It’s important to note that uncommon or rare options are not inherently stronger than common ones—talking corpse is no more powerful than other level 4 divination spells—just that they might not mesh well with certain story concepts or they might require a certain level of GM buy-in. After all, a murder mystery wouldn’t really make sense if anyone in the world knew how to cast talking corpse on the victim to ask who the culprit was.

What is Availability?

You might notice that the Core Rulebook references the GM in several places. Since Pathfinder Society doesn’t have just one GM, the organized play team acts as campaign GM, using a system of availability to show what options are legal for play. There are three kinds of availability for Pathfinder Society:

Standard: Standard availability just means that the option’s rarity for Organized Play is unchanged from the rarity printed in its sourcebook. If the option is common in the sourcebook, that means it’s common for Pathfinder Society, so you can take it as-is (assuming you meet all the usual prerequisites). If the option is uncommon in the sourcebook, that means it’s uncommon for Pathfinder Society, so you need to gain access to it somehow (see below for more on that!). Almost all options are standard availability unless otherwise stated.

Limited: Limited availability means that the option won’t be seen as often in Society play. If an option is limited, it means that you can’t select it unless you have a boon that specifically allows it—even if the option is common or if you have access to it. Options are limited if we want to save them for special rewards (usually for scenarios with heavy ties to certain regions or factions), or if we’re not allowing them in the campaign at this time.

Restricted: A restricted option functions exactly like a limited option—you can’t select it unless you have a boon that specifically allows it. The main difference, though, is to signal that these options shouldn’t be expected to enter Society play anytime soon, either because they don’t make sense for large numbers of players to be running around with (such as unique weapons), require above-average amounts of GM adjudication (such as the Plot the Future feat, which requires the GM to give advice to the player about future actions within the next week), or are outside the tone of the shared campaign setting (such as certain evil deities or spells). Restricted options usually enter the campaign in small numbers, such as via charity boons, if at all.

Rather than saying options are allowed or banned, as was the case in Pathfinder First Edition, we designate them as standard or limited/restricted instead. This helps to keep everything working within the same rarity system as used in all other Pathfinder products, and it also makes it easier for us to allow options later down the line if things change.

Art by Kiki Moch Rizky

Gaining Access to Uncommon Options

So, what should I do if I want to use an uncommon option for my Pathfinder Society character? There are five main ways to gain access:

1. Automatic Access: Pathfinder Society players gain automatic access to a variety of options—such as the kobold ancestry, the vigilante archetype, or Pathfinder-specific equipment like the wayfinder—just by being part of the Pathfinder Society! Check the Character Options Blog to see if you already have access to the option you want to take.
2. Character Origin: Just like in non-Society play, your character’s backstory—such as their ethnicity, region of origin, or any groups they belong to—might give them access to certain options.
3. Player Options: Some common feats, ancestries, classes, or the like can grant you access to uncommon options further down the line. For instance, the dragon disciple archetype is uncommon, but if you’re a dragon instinct barbarian or a draconic bloodline sorcerer, you gain access. Similarly, many uncommon ancestral weapons, such as gnome flickmaces or elven curve blades, can be accessed with common ancestry feats.
4. Achievement Points (AcP) Purchase: Achievement Points earned by playing and GMing games can be used to purchase access to uncommon or rare options. You can check the total AcP you’ve unlocked for Pathfinder Society (2e) and the boons available to purchase by signing in to your My Organized Play account and going to the “Boons” tab. This is also the main way to select an uncommon ancestry or heritage.
5. Adventure Unlocks: Lastly, boon unlocks from completing certain adventures or achieving Faction goals grant access to thematically related uncommon or rare options. In Year 1, these boons were located on the Chronicle Sheet of each adventure, but moving forward into the future, you’ll now find these boons in the same place as those purchasable with AcP on the “Boons” tab of your My Organized Play page.

It’s important to note that, while you can use these methods to gain access to many uncommon options, not all options yet have a way to gain access to them. Many of these are things we’re waiting for the right adventure to give out as a reward; for instance, it seems underwhelming to grant access to a Baba Yaga feat or a Jatembe spell without interacting with Irrisen or the Magaambya in some way to learn these legendary techniques.

As the campaign’s ongoing storyline progresses and evolves, the actions of you, the players, will also influence what is made available in the Pathfinder Society campaign. Be sure to report your scenarios and check any boxes—after all, your successes and choices can shape the world of Golarion, and with it, the options your characters can find within it!

James Case
Organized Play Developer

We’re taking a pause in our usual organized play program updates this week and shifting gears slightly. Building the program is important and provides lots of games, but that is only half of the equation of organized play.

The other half is the community that uses the games and the volunteer leaders who support their communities. For that, Paizo’s teamed up with the Organized Play Foundation (OPF), a not-for-profit entity focused on community building. Paizo has a license agreement with OPF so that the community volunteers gain access to Org Play program materials while donating their time to help their local groups.

Community Volunteers

The community volunteers fall into two main categories. The first, known as venture-officers (VO), focus their energies on public game events in a geographical location - whether that be a store, community center, town, state, country, or region. There are four levels of venture-officers, based on the size community they organize. Venture-officers gain access to Paizo published materials based on their rank. They do sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), as oftentimes VOs know program plans before public release. For more information about being a venture officer, including how to apply, visit the Volunteer Coordinator Page. Questions regarding the volunteer program as a whole should be sent to volunteeragreements@organizedplayfoundation.org.

The second category of volunteers are the convention volunteers. These range from members of the convention organizing committee to GMs running games and HQ staff performing admin tasks. Paizo sponsors a number of conventions each year and contracts the OPF as the volunteer management organization. The 2021 sponsored shows aren’t 100% decided yet, so it’s not quite time for a full open call, though we expect openings on the PaizoCon (May), UKGE (June) and PAX Unplugged 2021 (Dec) organizing committees. More information on volunteering for events appears on the Volunteer Information section of the Organized Play Foundation website. The page information, including how to volunteer, will be updated once the 2021 shows are determined. Currently, the open conventions are PAX Online and the upcoming convention is PAX Unplugged.

Task Forces

For those who are already venture officers, or who may be joining the team, the community is spinning up a number of small-group initiatives collectively known as task forces. These teams will work to aid the OPF in managing various aspects of community integration and OPF operations.

A list of task forces clicking this link. To join a team, complete the registration form at the bottom.

There is no hard deadline for joining a team, as people rotate through the VO corps they will also rotate through the task forces, though anyone interested in helping launching a team should apply by September 15th, 2020.

Until later today, when we discuss Rarity and Access as used in the Pathfinder Society (second edition) program!

Explore, Report, Cooperate (and wash your hands!) -

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

The tunnel ran smooth and deep, a gullet boring down into frozen ground, beckoning explorers into its belly. Ariad-N5 planned to accept its invitation. Nifri joined Ariad at the edge of the chasm.

“This is it,” the kasatha said, cross-referencing the coordinates displayed on his datapad. Together they peered down at the decrepit ramp that curled nautilus-like within the tunnel.

“I’m ready to get out of this cold,” Talla grumbled. The quorlu trudged through the deep snow, her movements slowed by the thermal suit she wore to protect her sensitive skin from the frigid temperatures. This was a first; in all their years working together, Ariad had never heard her complain.

“Construction’s delayed until we survey the ruins, so AbadarCorp wants us in and out.” Talla explained.

“What’s our timeline?” Ariad asked. “We need a few weeks to—”

“The corp gave us 12 hours,” Talla snapped. Ariad and Nifri exchanged concerned looks, but their leader appeared unphased by the impossible deadline. She studied the ramp and shook her head decisively. “Looks unstable. We’ll rappel down.” Nifri helped her create an anchor using two ice screws connected by a sling, then ran a cable line through it. The three explorers clipped in with practiced technique. Nifri rappelled down first, the crunch of boots against ice echoing through his open comm channel. Then, he looped his cable through a belay device to assist Talla, leaving the android alone in a swirl of snow at the edge of the ruins.

“Your turn,” Nifri said finally. “I’m on belay.”

“On rappel.” Ariad gripped their cable and kicked off from the ledge. They watched the sky shrink as they walked down the side of the tunnel in a controlled descent. Suddenly, their toe caught a patch of ice, and they plunged downward. Ariad grabbed for the nearby ramp, but it crumbled in their grip. The cable snapped taut as Nifri caught them, and a chunk of debris plummeted toward their teammates below.

“Rock!” Ariad shouted. Nifri sidestepped and the rubble shattered harmlessly on the ground beside him.

“Close one, thanks!” He yelled.

When the android reached the end of the cable, a dim halo of light was all that remained of the world above. Their eyes roamed over the alien architecture surrounding them. The walls were mottled red and purple like the exposed intestines of a great beast. Brown, scabby patches festered in places, but there was no scent of decay. Metallic panels embedded into the fleshy walls reinforced the structure, and a glowing blue pillar towered at the center of the cavernous chamber. The wall rippled as a constellation of arcane symbols flashed across its surface.

“Did you see that?” Ariad whispered. Talla gasped as the same symbols wriggled into view across the room.

“Fascinating,” she breathed. “There’s magic all around us.” Nifri, transfixed by the blue pillar, ignored them.

“Old wards, perhaps, or maybe this peculiar building material is magical,” Ariad observed, peering at the wall where the symbols had appeared. They avoided touching the nonmetal parts during their examination; the spongy reddish substance made their dermis crawl.

“Let’s move on,” Talla directed, and motioned toward an aperture on the far side of the room. Before she stepped through it a deep, percussive boom reverberated through the ruins. A shape charged out of the shadows, and Talla instinctively reached for the pistol holstered at her belt. She relaxed when she recognized Nifri, all four of his arms flailing as he sprinted toward them.

“It…shocked…me,” he panted, skidding to a halt.

“What shocked you?” Ariad asked. They peered into the kasatha’s eyes, examining him for pupil dilation and other signs of trauma. Then they noticed his bare hands. “What happened to your safety gloves?”

“I took them off before I touched the pillar,” Nifri admitted. “I know it’s against protocol, but I wanted to gauge its temperature.”

“You should have used a thermal scanner,” Ariad scolded.

“Enough,” Talla pronounced calmly. “Once, I got so enthusiastic about an excavation that my team leader had to pry me off a trapped statue.” She chuckled at the memory. “Not my finest hour. Are you hurt?”

“Only my pride,” Nifri said sheepishly. Talla smiled at him.

“Remember your training, and stick with safety protocols from now on,” Talla commanded. With the incident dismissed, they emerged into a hallway studded with valve-like openings that hinted at a vast network of chambers within the ruins. As they passed the abandoned rooms, Nifri’s flashlight illuminated the silhouettes of machinery somehow both antiquated and advanced, now immortalized in disrepair.

“If you’d purchased those retinal reflectors I recommended, you wouldn’t need that.” Ariad nodded to Nifri’s flashlight.

“I’m saving my credits for a tropical vacation. I got more than enough hands, so don’t worry, Ensie.” Nifri retorted, but his voice lacked its usual confidence. Ariad often struggled to read others’ emotions, but they had no problem interpreting their colleagues’ behavior. Nifri’s shallow breathing and Talla’s frantic heartbeat betrayed their fear. Ariad noted the prickle of adrenaline in their own system. They knew the source of these symptoms—the hideous decaying walls, unidentified magic crawling through the air, the ruins’ reaction when Nifri touched the pillar—this was not a routine survey.

Talla’s authoritative voice broke the silence. “Let’s split up to cover more ground. Nifri, the gloves stay on this time, please.”

“You got it, boss.,” Nifri nodded and disappeared around a bend. Determined to master their own unease, Ariad followed Talla’s directions without comment. They chose a room close to the entrance that housed rows of gyroscope-like contraptions. Strangely, each device contained a seat designed to accommodate a small creature. Ariad had only completed a cursory inspection of the machines when their comm unit crackled to life.

“Ari, come take a look at this.” Talla sounded calm, but she must have found something interesting. Talla stood in front of a hexagonal column they hadn’t noticed before. Unfamiliar pictograms studded its seamless obsidian metal surface, forming an incomprehensible cipher.

The xenoarchaeologists examine the strange ruin in this illustration by Pixoloid Studios.

“At least this text is stationary.” Ariad said. They scanned the symbols, cross-referencing their own internal database of language and magical code. Unfortunately, their cybernetically- enhanced eidetic memory proved no match for the strange writing. Talla waved a chemalyzer along the length of the pillar. The device beeped and Talla’s eyestalks craned eagerly toward the readout. The knitted thermal cap she wore to protect her delicate organs bobbed comically as she shook her head in confusion.

“Strange, these isotope levels look…pre-Gap?” Talla gave the device a solid tap to ensure it was working properly. “Yeah, probably pre-Gap.” Talla sighed, clearly frustrated. With hundreds of successful excavations under her belt, she was team leader for good reason, and not used to being thwarted like this. “This writing isn’t in any language I’m familiar with.”

“I don’t recognize it either,” Ariad confessed.

“Too bad. I was hoping you could translate,” Talla said in a muffled voice as she rummaged through her pack.

“Where’s Nifri?” Ariad asked. Concern for their absent colleague suddenly gripped them. Nifri was a competent, though inexperienced, professional. His earlier judgment lapse was uncharacteristic, but what if he ran into more trouble?

As if on cue, Nifri’s voice exploded from Talla’s comm unit. “Boss, I don’t think we’re in a tomb. This room has cryo-storage and an operating theater. I found some partial specimens that look like—no, that can’t be.” Nifri’s voice trailed off, distracted by his latest discovery.

“Roger, Nifri,” Talla responded. “Ari and I are finishing up here. Take samples while you wait for us.” Ariad wondered how she could sound confident when they weren’t any closer to unraveling the mystery of the ruins.

“We need an icebreaker,” she declared, and produced a glob of iridescent putty from her pack. She attached it to the pillar the way a child might stash a piece of gum beneath a desk for safekeeping. It rolled slowly over the object, seeking concealed edges and mechanisms invisible to the naked eye. Talla grinned when it settled and revealed the outline of a control panel.

“What is that?” Ariad wondered. They gasped when the panel popped out from the pillar as though activated by their voice. At this angle, they realized it housed a keypad labeled with unfamiliar pictograms.

“Let’s find out,” Talla flashed them a mischievous grin. She reached toward the keypad, then jumped back as the panel immediately retracted. A loud whirring sound filled the room and the column’s six faces began to rotate. The object lowered, spinning, into the floor as its exterior surfaces unfurled, revealing a central core of blue plasma. A hologram depicting an unknown species materialized in the glow. The plasma flickered and warped, forming distorted images that hinted at the creature’s anatomy. It stood atop four overlapping tentacles, its segmented neck arching forward from the far side of its body like a striking serpent. Three sets of clawed arms protruded from its ribbed belly. Its only discernable facial features were two pairs of mismatched eyes that blazed with inscrutable intent. Its mandibles twitched in synchronization with its vestigial front arms as it vocalized. A roar of growls and glottal stops that Ariad’s linguistic processors registered as noise filled the corridor. Suddenly, an arc of electricity shot out from the panel.

“Watch out!” Ariad screamed, shoving Talla out of the way. The bolt surged and struck the floor where she had just been standing. Residual static pulsed through the android’s synthetic skin as they stared at the charred spot left behind.

“Thank you,” Talla gasped. “I thought—” A howling klaxon from the ruined complex’s core interrupted her. This warning needed no translation, and the two researchers fled toward the entrance. A magnified voice boomed overhead as they ran, speaking the holographic creature’s dissonant language. A series of crashes chased them down the hall as shutters lowered over doorways they’d planned to investigate. A metal slab slammed down in front of them, blocking the exit.

“Over here!” Nifri called from behind them. He stepped into the hallway and waved his team toward an accessible room. Ariad and Talla sprinted through the doorway seconds before it sealed itself shut.

“I think we’re safe in here,” Nifri said. Ariad wasn’t so sure. Their refuge was a control room crowded with dusty consoles and machinery. A hundred orange eyes blinked awake as the ancient equipment rumbled and whined, booting up for the first time in millennia.

“I can’t find a signal in here.” Talla paced while frantically typing into her comm unit, but her companions’ attention snapped back to the room’s central console. A holoprojection of a planet floated above it. A beacon at the center of the topographical map radiated veins reaching across its mountains and valleys. The two watched in horror as the tendrils elongated and writhed out from the beacon, infesting the planet’s surface. Ariad recognized the planet. It was Jedarat.

“What have we done?” Nifri gasped.

“I have a signal!” Talla exclaimed. “Talla to HQ. We’re trapped. Do you copy?” Only a burst of static answered her.

“Keep trying,” Ariad urged. There were hundreds of workers on Jedarat’s surface. Ariad’s team was trapped, but they had to warn the others.

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Eisyfina Nott stood in the chalet’s doorway. Outside, a shroud of snow concealed the world, obscuring a picturesque view of the alpine landscape. The storm had appeared out of nowhere, right when all the terraforming equipment in the valley went haywire.

Eisyfina’s datapad pinged with an incoming message, a video file from the xenoarchaeology team contracted to explore Jedarat’s ruins. She watched silently, transfixed by the video’s disturbing contents. She shut it off with a decisive tap of her finger, but the message’s final words echoed in her mind: we woke it up.

“This is Nott requesting immediate support to New Horizons headquarters.” She barked into her earpiece. “We need help. Now.”

About the Author

Jenny Jarzabski is a freelance writer, sommelier, and nature enthusiast. She writes adventures and rules for Pathfinder and Starfinder, in addition to some weird fiction of her own. She is just as likely to be found on the trails or at the climbing wall as delving the word mines or gamemastering at a convention. You can follow Jenny’s real life adventures on Twitter at @jenjski.

About Devastation Ark

In the Devastation Ark Adventure Path, the discovery of a series of millennia-old ruins sets off a chain of events that puts an ancient titanic spacecraft on course to the Pact Worlds. Will the heroes be triumph in stopping the dreadnaught? Or will the alien species take the Pact Worlds as its new home and conquer the galaxy? This three-part Starfinder campaign is designed to take player characters from level 13 to 20 and can serve as a sequel to any previous Starfinder Adventure Path.

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We had some amazing new releases last month; are you ready for more? This month features a dire wake-up call, a zealot’s grand plot, and a bounty on the creature known locally as "the Whitefange Wyrm"!

Starfinder: Shoot For the Stars!

Starfinder Adventure Path #31: Waking the Worldseed (Devastation Ark 1 of 3)

A DIRE WAKE-UP CALL
When the heroes rescue a xenoarcheological team from weather gone haywire on a distant, frozen world, they unearth more than they bargained for as an ancient ruin rises from the ground and kicks off a series of events that could change the face of the galaxy forever. The tower contains secrets of a warlike civilization thought long dead and is strangely connected to a small moon in the Pact Worlds. The heroes must explore a previously unknown facility under the moon’s surface that threatens to overheat and destroy all life there! They then learn the moon is signaling a gigantic alien craft, drawing it toward the system with lethal intent!

This Starfinder Adventure Path volume begins The Devastation Ark Adventure Path and includes:

• “Waking the Worldseed,” a Starfinder adventure for 13th-level characters, by Jenny Jarzabski.
• A gazetteer of Hibb, one of the many shepherd moons orbiting the gas giant of Liavara and home to the wheeled bantrids, by Mikhail Rekun.
• An archive of high-level alien creatures, including a haunted hovercar and a burrowing moon worm, by Joshua Hennington, Jenny Jarzabski, and Crystal Malarsky.
• Statistics and deck plans for a luxury cruise liner, by Ryan Gilmore, and a glimpse at a mysterious ruin- covered world with a corrosive atmosphere, by Robert G. McCreary.

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Starfinder Flip-Tiles: Space Station Emergency Expansion

It's an emergency in space! Next time your players are ready to explore a space station's depths, they won't have to wait for you to surprise them with dangers in the next corridor or compartment. Starfinder Flip-Tiles: Space Station Emergency Expansion provides beautifully illustrated 6" × 6" map tiles that can be used to enhance your station with a variety of battle damage, hazards, emergency lighting, and locations to explore. Inside, you'll find 24 richly crafted, double-sided map tiles. This expansion set, along with Starfinder Flip-Tiles: Space Station Starter Set, allows you to create futuristic space habitats with endless variety! So stop your sketching and start your flipping today!!

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Pathfinder: Unleash Your Hero!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #158: Sixty Feet Under (Agents of Edgewatch 2 of 6)

Bury Them Deep
After stopping a perilous bank robbery, the Edgewatch agents follow the money to uncover the source of the street-level corruption. Within a long-lost corner of Absalom’s subterranean Catacombs, they find a cabal of murderous worshippers of the so-called Skinsaw Man. The agents will need to dig deeper than ever to take down the cult’s leader—a bloodthirsty butcher known as the Skinner—and get to the bottom of the zealots’ grand plot. The Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path continues with “Sixty Feet Under,” a complete adventure for 4th- to 9th-level characters.

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Pathfinder Bestiary 2 Pawn Collection

An army of monsters has arrived, and they're ready to invade your game! The Pathfinder Bestiary 2 Pawn Collection is the best way to present these monsters on your gaming table. This collection of creatures represents those found in Pathfinder Bestiary 2 and are perfect for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or any fantasy RPG.

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Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Haunted Dungeons Multi-Pack

Whenever your players make the choice to ignore the warnings and delve deep into a sinister complex or ghost-infested ruin, Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Haunted Dungeons Multi-Pack has you covered. This set's four sides each feature a different spooky dungeon to explore. Whether you are looking for a vampire's lair, a ghost-infested ruin, or any sort of ghoulish complex, these four dungeons are sure to inspire! Don't waste your time sketching when you could be playing. With Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Haunted Dungeons Multi-Pack, you'll be ready the next time your players spend a frightful night in a scary dungeon.

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Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society: Year of Corruption’s Reach has just begun! Now, with the Society rebuilt and refocused on their principles of exploration and discovery, the Pathfinders are set to embark on a new mission: creating a new Pathfinder lodge in Iobaria and delving into the ancient secrets that have lain dormant on the Inner Sea’s northeastern border for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

This season we’ve rolled out some innovations to scenario format. We’ve swapped out our traditional Pathfinder Society Quest short scenario format for a new approach we’re calling Pathfinder Bounties. These 1-hour adventures answer the question “What does a Pathfinder do when the Society doesn’t have a job for them?” Unlike our quests and scenarios, bounties don’t assume that the players are members of the Pathfinder Society, and the adventures presented therein might be anything from a dragon hunt on the Crown of the World to saving a Druman farmer’s prized alpaca herds from predacious chupacabras. Bounties are designed to provide exciting entry points for any adventurer looking to start their career, and they are repeatable, making them a perfect introduction to Pathfinder Second Edition.

Pathfinder Society Bounty #1: The Whitefang Wyrm

A Pathfinder Society Bounty designed for level 1.
In the frigid region known as the Crown of the World, people from diverse cultures and backgrounds must all band together to survive the long nights of winter and deadly thaws of spring. The way of life of these hardy frontier folk is now threatened by a serpentine creature that slips in during the dead of night and empties their nets of fish and their smoking racks of fresh meat. Unable and unwilling to let this theft stand, the people of the tiny northern town of Aaminiut have placed a bounty on the creature known locally as "the Whitefange Wyrm".
Written by: Michael Sayre.

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Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-01: Citadel of Corruption

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–4.
A new year dawns for the Pathfinder Society. For the past several years, Pathfinders have explored the edges of the Iobarian wilderness, making new allies and discovering hints at a long-forgotten past. Now, the Decemvirate has decided that it is time for the Pathfinders to do what Pathfinders do best: explore, report, and cooperate! In an ancient cyclopean ruin, the Society seeks to stake their claim with both a new lodge and, hopefully, new insights into Iobaria's remote history. Some secrets are best left buried, however. Will the PCs make a name for themselves as modern day explorers, or will the evil lurking at the heart of the Iobarian dig site consume their hopes and dreams?
Written by Scott D. Young.

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Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-02: Mountain of Sea and Sky

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 3-6
Venture-Captain Amari Li has called for assistance in establishing new Pathfinder lodges throughout Tian Xia! The mountainous island of Kayajima, in northwestern Minkai, would be an ideal site, as it sits atop a convergence of powerful—though long-dormant—ley lines that could offer valuable protection for a future lodge. Rather than lay claim to the island by force, the Pathfinders must treat with the island's animals and spirits, securing their blessing for a ritual to restore the island's magic and establish the newest Pathfinder lodge.
Written by Adrian Ng.

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Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society’s Year of Exploration’s Edge is well underway! Year of Exploration’s Edge is the perfect opportunity to start enjoying Starfinder Society, or even to pick up as bonus content for your already ongoing Starfinder campaigns when you need that fun “planet of the week” diversion. While we’re not as focused on a major overarching metaplot, there are three unique multi-part stories that PCs of all level ranges can still enjoy and should scratch that ongoing story arc itch.

Starfinder Society Scenario #3-05: The Hivemarket Heist

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-4.
A group of the giant four-armed shobhads from the red world of Akiton approaches the Starfinder Society to help retrieve relics stolen from one of their holy sites. Things aren't as they seem, as the thieves wait to sell their objects in Akiton's infamous Hivemarket, where they enjoy the protection of the mysterious incorporeal beings known as khulans. It's up to the PCs to step in and investigate the missing relics without gaining any unwanted attention from the khulans.
Written by: Jim Groves.

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Starfinder Society Scenario #3-06: Rise of the Vault Lord

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 7-10.
During a routine investigation on the false moon of Salvation's End, the PCs encounter an emissary from the vault's mysterious guiding intelligence. Directed to stop an ongoing invasion of another vault, the PCs find themselves caught in the middle of a conflict that could determine the fate of the false moon. Only through the PCs' actions can the machinations of the mysterious Vault Lord be halted.
Written by: Matt Duval.

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Pathfinder Adventure Card Society

Pathfinder Adventure Card Society’s new season, Year of Reborn Strife, is here! The first half of the new season runs from August to December, with a new storybook releasing every month. The season’s early action takes the PCs to a swarming ancient metropolis filled with mysteries and intrigue. Kaer Maga, City of Strangers, is a haven for outcasts, misfits, rebels, and wayfarers from across the dangerous land of Varisia. Anyone is welcome on its shrouded streets, so long as they don’t ask too many questions or interfere with the freedom of their neighbors.

But a new threat rises to upset this delicate balance!

Pathfinder Adventure Card Society #7-1: Attack of the Twice-Born

All are welcome in Kaer Maga, the City of Strangers, where master smiths with construct bodyguards, troll augurs, and merchants with zombie servants walk the shadowed streets. When some of these undead servants break free and turn violent, the city's premier purveyor of mindless undead turns to the Pathfinder Society for help in uncovering the cause and putting an end to the zombie attacks.

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

This year Free RPG Day was Saturday, July 25, 2020. Designed to support your favorite local games stores with increased traffic, participating stores had exclusive new adventures, as well as giveaways and prizes. But in this time of social distancing, many plans were askew. Some stores were closed, others had curbside pickup.

Using the Free RPG Day database I discovered a new game-store/pub near my home that I knew nothing about! On the 25th we lined up at least 6 feet apart. They handed out products outside, so going inside was not required to participate. They let a few of us inside at a time, all masked up. And they had ice cream! I’ve returned twice.

Now, 30 days later, our adventures Starfinder Adventure: Skitter Home and Pathfinder Adventure: Little Trouble in Big Absalom are available as free downloads! Print copies are available for $5.

The adventures include pre-generated characters, are short, and great for beginners. Pathfinder Adventure: Little Trouble in Big Absalom is the first volume for Pathfinder Second Edition and stars first level kobolds! Whereas Starfinder Adventure: Skitter Home intended for four 4th-level skittermander characters who are looking for some fun before jumping into action like the helpful heroes that they are.

You can also go back and start Starfinder Skitter Shot at first level and play Starfinder Skitter Crash, which is intended for four 3rd-level skittermander characters.

If you participate in the Pathfinder or Starfinder Societies, you may play the adventure and apply credit to one of your Society characters of the same level (or a new first level character). More detailed instructions for earning credit and the chronicle sheet listing in-Society rewards are available as a free download on the product page for each adventure. Games run on Free RPG Day retroactively earn credit and players should contact their GM to get their chronicle.

All our Pathfinder First Edition Free RPG Day Adventures are here.

We’ll be sure to announce any virtual tabletop partners who make these available.

Support your favorite local game store, there would not be a Free RPG Day without them!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

The latest weekly live stream campaign from Band of Badgers explores the world of Golarion from the time of ‘Rise of the Runelords’ as the band of heroes start their journey across the lands of Varisia and beyond. They will be facing goblin raids, a cult of serial killers, fight backwoods ogres, stop an advancing army of stone giants, delve into ancient dungeons, and finally face off against a wizard-king in his ancient mountaintop city.

Gamemaster Dave Kingsman has explained “I’m introducing new players to this fantastic landscape of imagination with one of the greatest stories of adventure and exploration and I am honoured to be the one to guide them through on their first steps into this truly legendary campaign. To do this I’ll be taking the original 1st edition adventure path and converting it into Pathfinder Second Edition.”

Band of Badgers has also garnered the attention of none other than Beadle & Grimm’s, now a licensed Paizo partner, and will be bringing new products to the world of Pathfinder, starting with a Kickstarter to launch a collection of brand new character class journals complete with the Beadle & Grimm’s touch.

You can find this epic campaign on Twitch.tv/bandofbadgers every Thursday from 9 p.m. UK time (simultaneously on Twitch.tv/officialpaizo at 1 p.m. Pacific) and if you join in live you can expect to find giveaways, interactive chat, and a chance to join the band. If you miss it fear not! Videos will be uploaded to YouTube within seven days.

The campaign will launch this Thursday the 27th of August – So ask yourself, when evil rises, are you brave enough to join the band?

You can find more Band of Badgers adventures here.

Check out what we have in store this week on Twitch!

Also if you’re interested in running your own Pathfinder or Starfinder streams, we released some awesome art assets which are free to use for your own shows! You can find them here.

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Glass Cannon Live!, Aug 28, 29, 30 , 3:00 p.m. Pacific

The coronavirus pandemic may have put the Glass Cannon Live! tour on hold for 2020, but the show must go on. Check out the Glass Cannon Network live on Monday as they attempt to marathon through the end of Book One of Strange Aeons!

The marathon schedule is:

• Friday 8/28 - 6pm ET - 10pm ET
• Saturday 8/39 - 6pm ET - 10pm ET
• Sunday 8/30 - 6pm ET - 10pm ET

Catch the team live on their twitch channel here.

Note: Please visit the team’s Instagram page for any news/adjustments on the marathon’s dates. And please wish Troy a swift recovery!

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Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, Aug 24, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things, Aug 24, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, Aug 25, 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us

Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Band of Badgers, Aug 27 , 1:00 p.m. Pacific

Band of Badgers explores the world of Golarion from the time of ‘Rise of the Runelords’ as the band of heroes start their journey across the lands of Varisia and beyond. They will be facing goblin raids, a cult of serial killers, fight backwoods ogres, stop an advancing army of stone giants, delve into ancient dungeons, and finally face off against a wizard-king in his ancient mountaintop city.

Catch them live either hosted on Paizo’s Twitch Channel or on their channel here.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast, Aug 27, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Heroic Endeavors, Aug 28, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

Join Dragons & Things for another Pathfinder Second Edition adventure! Swords will clash, magic will be cast, and critical ones will bring these heroes to their knees. Journey with these heroic adventurers in their custom world of Val’Duren every Friday!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, Aug 29, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, Aug 30, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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Do you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder Live Play? Tell us in the blog comments below! We’re excited to see what stories you come up with.

We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

One of the earliest steps I took in designing the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Summoner Class Deck was to look at Summoner archetypes to complement the iconic Balazar and his death-chicken Padrig. Alase would become our God Caller and Zetha our Shadow Caller. But there was one character I worked on that we pretty quickly had to drop.

Orcs have blood gods, ’cause a mere god isn’t bloody enough.

Blood God Disciples are half-orc summoners who believe their eidolon is an avatar of one of the orc blood gods. So, we created Thargrap the summoner and his nightmare-wolf eidolon that he totally thinks is an avatar of Nulgreth, the orc deity of bloodlust and fighting. Unfortunately, when coming up with the list of boons to fill out the deck, I realized that we had three summoners who didn’t care about weapons and one that did. We also knew we needed three summoners, not four. So… swiftly away he went, forgotten into the annals of our playtest forums. Until today.

Sometimes it’s not clear who’s in charge. Not so when you think your eidolon is a god.

Now, this is not how Thargrap looked way back then. We’ve learned a few things in the last four or five years, so we’ve updated him to fit the game design philosophy we’ve embraced in the Core Set and Curse of the Crimson Throne. He’s a lot more “local friendly” than he used to be. We’re also experimenting with adding cohort feats, in the same way that we have supporter feats.

Like all summoners, Thargrap has a higher skill ceiling than many characters; he’s not really a first-pick for the faint of heart. I had to make sure he was tested by one of our most rash and reckless testers to verify how well his engine—which sends all of his cards inexorably toward banishment in exchange for more card draws and explorations—works. (Those of you who know our testers and venture-officers might well have a good guess to whom I refer.) So, let me ask our Venture-Captain for Online PACS, Tyler “Cartmanbeck” Beck: Hey Tyler, what do you think of Thargrap?

I have been playtesting Thargrap every chance I’ve gotten to do so for a few months now, and at no time have I stopped loving this character. In fact, I’ve started calling Thargrap my favorite character ever (once again proving that I lied to you in this blog... and this one...).

I remember Thargrap from the long-ago playtesting of the Summoner Class Deck, and even then, I was very excited about a Blood God Summoner character, and very disappointed when he was cut from the deck. He has mutated a bit since that initial playtest, but only for the better!

Thargrap is probably the character that best fits my PACG playstyle, which is generally “explore as much as possible, get really close to dying, then beg for healing from someone else in the party.” Thargrap achieves this through a combination of several different powers, despite having a very small starting hand size.

Thargrap’s cohort, Nulgreth, has the ability to “eat” (banish) a card from Thargrap’s buried pile to boost his attack, or to allow him to draw a card. Since Thargrap can bury monsters defeated locally by any character, he can quickly fill his buried pile with monsters during other players’ turns, and then on his own turn he can banish as many as he needs to in order to draw a huge hand and have a massive turn full of explores, all while simultaneously allowing you to cull unnecessary cards from your deck, which I know will appeal to many players! When you combine this with Thargrap’s strong Melee skill and his ability to also pick up Arcane spells, he’s a beast that can rip through locations like no other.

Mo’ buries, mo’ power.

Thargrap likes some pretty different cards than the other summoners. Infernal Healing is solid for culling your discards into your bury pile while healing back your more important cards. The Curse ally Priest of Asmodeus is fantastically themed and fun for Thargrap. Rovagug’s Destruction is great for a character who can turn most monster encounters into extra explores. (All of these cards being vaguely themed around evil, death, and destruction is surely a coincidence.)

Here are some initial deck suggestions for Thargrap.

Using Core Set cards only:
Weapon: Warhammer, 1 other
Spell: Enchant Weapon, Enhance, 2 others
Item: Token of Remembrance
Ally: Soldier, 1 other
Blessing: Prayer, 4 others

If you’re also using Curse of the Crimson Throne, consider:
Weapon: Scythe
Spell: False Life, Infernal Healing
Armor: Armored Coat
Ally: Pig

If you’re also using the Summoner Class Deck, consider:
Weapon: Quarterstaff of Vaulting
Spell: Black Spot, Eloquence, Evolution Surge
Ally: Blackwing Librarian
Blessing: Blessing of Pharasma

You have to have blood, but do you eat it yourself or re-gift it?

When Thargrap gains his role, you have a choice to make: share the gifts of the Blood God, or share the results of the gifts of the Blood God. Either way, Nulgreth demands blood! As a Bloodgifter, Thargrap learns to share the power of “his” eidolon with other nearby characters, allowing them to move, removing scourges, and even imbuing them with your skills. This is the party-friendly choice, based on the Bloody Gift power of the Pathfinder 1E Blood God Disciple archetype, and while it won’t help Thargrap stand out less at a gala or dinner party, it might help his fellows get invited in the first place.

On the other (bloody) hand, you can choose the Lord of the Blood Feast role, strengthening your ties to the practices and powers of the Blood God, even to the point of reflecting some of Nulgreth’s when your cohort isn’t necessarily present. The Lord of the Blood Feast can be more self-sufficient, but he definitely enjoys the company of others, especially when they assist you in your devotions.

Thargrap would make a great character for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Society’s new season 7, Year of Reborn Strife. You’ll find yourself in the city of Kaer Maga, arguably the most accepting and least racist city in Golarion. In the City of Strangers, Thargrap’s orcish heritage and habit of eating his foes barely stands out, as long as he doesn’t do it to the city residents (too much).

On the other (still bloody) hand, Thargrap is oddly not a great fit for the Summoner Class Deck. As mentioned above, he cares about weapons in a way that none of the characters from that deck do, and he likes several boons that they, generally speaking, do not. Since this character is relatively untested, we’d like you to try him out and provide your feedback. For play at home, test him with whatever Adventure Path, Class Decks, or Adventurer’s Packs you like, and let us know what works (both well and poorly).

For Organized Play, you may use the Magus, Goblins Burn!, or Hell’s Vengeance 2 Class Decks as your class deck. We suggest adding the Arcane and Smash Adventurer’s Packs.

Thanks to everyone who has already tested out Thargrap and Nulgreth, and to all of you who try them out now. I hope to have other characters to present in future blogs. It turns out that we’ve cut several characters over the years; I’m sure some of those lost characters might also be interesting.

Keith Richmond
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Designer

“I can’t do it, Gorm,” Ambrus says, straddling his chair and leaning over his desk to get a better view of the myriad logistical reports scattered across it. “I can’t justify putting our most experienced agents out in the field without so much as a briefing. We train our people to have good judgement, but this… This is too much.”

Ambrus slumps into his chair scratching a muttonchop with calloused fingers while waiting for his comrade’s response.

“You won’t find me disagreeing with you,” Gorm replies. “It’s a hard thing, knowing where to send our best talent, and how to get them there prepared to face the kinds of things we Pathfinders are bound to face. Besides, if we tried something that reckless, Fola would drag us both outside by our ears and thrash us one by one while making the other watch so they know what’s coming for them! And she’d be right to do it.” Scratching his belly under his vest, Gorm’s hand suddenly comes away holding a frothing mug, which he quickly downs. “A scotch might be better right about now,” he mutters, before raising his head to look Ambrus directly in the eyes. “I suppose we need to let those three know they’re on their own, eh?”

Ambrus releases a breath he hadn’t meant to hold and reaches for the pen that will magically convey his message across the Inner Sea to the waiting party of Pathfinder agents whose request for backup had set the tone for this pensive afternoon.

“You want me to write ‘em?” Gorm asks, eyes brimming with sympathy for both Ambrus and the waiting agents whose request for aid the steward was about to deny.

“No, they deserve to hear it from me,” Ambrus says. “I put them there, I won’t let anyone else be the one to tell them that they need to find their own way to a safe evacuation point.” Ambrus pauses for a moment, and then glances at Gorm with a pleading and apologetic look in his eyes. “But maybe do me one favor? Go grab me one of Arvya’s muffins from the kitchen and bring back a carafe of coffee. It’s going to be a long afternoon.”

Hello everyone!

It’s been a long, hectic couple months, but I think overall, they’ve been good. We got the Achievement Point system up for Pathfinder Second Edition, loaded with boons and ready for use! Sanctioning for the Advanced Player’s Guide beat the book to your eyes by a couple weeks, and Lost Omens Legends followed quick behind, along with a wave of new iconic pregenerated characters! The last batch of level 5 pregens will be releasing very soon, with Seoni, Seelah, Harsk, Sajan, Lem, and Lini leveling up to join the ranks of their compatriots.

As we worked through the tasks of creating pregens, a couple years ago for Starfinder and over the last year for Pathfinder (second edition), the team made some fundamental decisions about the place of pregens at the table. We evaluated our own experiences and reviewed feedback from the Pathfinder (first) edition campaign, as well as solicited feedback from volunteer coordinators and GMs. After much consideration, the team decided that releasing level 7 or 9 pregens held more drawbacks than benefits and that we would not produce pregens at higher levels for either campaign. As a result of the decision not to include 7th level or higher pregens, we are making some program-wide changes regarding legal table limits and the use of pregenerated characters at tables. The following rules take effect immediately and will be included in future iterations of the Guide to Organized Play for each campaign.

For tables at levels that have pregens available. GMs can now run up to two pregenerated characters to fill a table up to the four-person minimum. The GM can control these pregens themselves or designate one or more players to control the additional character(s), so long as the player agrees to do so. This should help our smaller lodges and Society home groups participate in our program and continue firing and reporting games.

For higher level Pathfinder (second edition) play:

• In Level 7+ adventures, we are reducing the minimum number of players to three. This opens up a “hard mode” playthrough experience that should be satisfying, though we want to caution you that, as the adventures are designed for a minimum of four players, they will be more difficult than normal. To play with three players, add Challenge Points for a hypothetical fourth player as follows:


• Groups of three players whose total Challenge Points are less than 12 add 2 to their Challenge Point total to determine their final Challenge Point scaling and encounter adjustments, winding up in the adventure’s lower level range.


• Groups of three whose total Challenge Points are 12 or higher add 4 Challenge Points to their total value to determine their final Challenge Point scaling and encounter adjustments, winding up in the adventure’s higher-level range.

The first Level 7-10 scenario won’t release until June, so those of you getting ready to play at that level range can begin to plan accordingly, and those of you out there who only have two players can begin filling the remaining two seats with pregens and reporting your games.

For higher level Starfinder play:

• For levels that go above 8th (the current highest level of our pregenerated characters), we’ll be allowing groups to play with a 3-player minimum. Note, these smaller table sizes are strictly for players who willingly play expecting that the adventure will be harder. As with other instances of hard mode, all players at a table need to opt into the hard mode before starting the game.


• These 3-player adjustments offer no additional scaling (beyond the already existing 4-player adjustment) and do not grant extra rewards... well... except for the obvious bragging rights! I for one can’t wait to see how well a group of 3 PCs handles the higher-level range in Rise of the Vault Lord!

As with all program changes, we will evaluate them over the next few months to see if they are helping us achieve our aim, which is getting more games to successfully occur. We will keep an eye on this thread in upcoming months for feedback on these changes.

Have a good one everyone, and until next time- Explore! Report! Cooperate!

Michael Sayre
Pathfinder Society Developer

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Art by Nicolas Espinoza

Kunoris Vex was in trouble.

The drow, a seasoned Starfinder who rarely ever worried about anything, checks the ammunition count on his pistol—three shots left. Whatever weaponry remains on the robotic drone would probably be enough to do him in. Still, Vex, a trained Starfinder, knows that sometimes an agent just needs to trust in their gut—or rather, trust in their aphelion laser pistol.

Two shots ring out in the long corridor.

A moment later the large robotic drone, dubbed a “hunter-class” by other Starfinders, explodes into a shower of debris. The echo fills the vast interior tunnel of Salvation’s End. A fist-sized crater simmers in the metallic floor behind Vex, a hand’s breadth from his right foot.

“Is... is it safe?” The voice of Kashtee, a timid gnoll who Vex took on as an assistant and personal schedule keeper, speaks from behind the armored vehicle.

“Yes Kashtee, it’s safe. There’s only one of them this time.”

The hyena-like Kashtee emerges from the driver seat of the vehicle, her trembling hands clenched firmly on a dataslate. She extends the datapad out to her drow companion. The white-haired elf reloads his laser pistol with a new clip, then takes the pad.

“Updates from Absalom Station, I presume? Good. We’ll need another group of agents out here at Salvation’s End to check on the latest vaults to open. If anything, we can use the added bodies to help patrol the corridors closest to our lodge; the appearance of these drones is getting far too frequent for my liking.”

Kunoris Vex, a venture-captain in the Starfinder Society, skims the datapad while Kashtee cautiously circles the wreckage of the still-smoking robot. She unclasps the shovel from her back—a keepsake from her time in the Duskmire vault—and starts poking the wreckage in several places.

“Is it... dead?”

The drow Starfinder chuckles while stowing the datapad and ushering his companion back to the vehicle.

“It’s no longer a threat. I think death is a concept foreign to these soulless automatons. Anyway, we should get back to the lodge. It looks like Arvin wants me to do some review on a recent assignment he’s sending some agents to Akiton to review. Something about some stolen relics among the shobhads. I guess he wants to know about the time I spent in the Hivemarket a few years back.”

Kashtee walks away from the smoking drone, hopping into the backseat of the transit vehicle. She lets out a small grunt as Kunoris turns the vehicle around.

“I’ll call some of the yetis to clean all this up...” the gnoll declares, taking out her personal datapad and making the arrangements.

Art by Mark Molnar

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Art by Mark Molnar

That’s sure some ominous tidings from the false moon of Salvation’s End! I suppose everyone out there should get ready to put together a group of high-level agents to partake in Starfinder Society #3-06: Rise of the Vault Lord by veteran freelancer, Matt Duval. Meanwhile, another industry veteran, Jim Groves, brings us a return to Akiton in the mysterious Starfinder Society #3-05: Hivemarket Heist for levels 1-4.

Tomorrow, we’ll announce a change to the minimum players needed to make legal tables in our organized play programs. For Starfinder Society, that involves a new option for higher levels of play. Come back tomorrow to read more!

For Pathfinders looking for a reveal of August scenarios, check out the Gen Con release blog where we shared a sneak peek at what’s in store for the launch of Year 2: Year of Corruption’s Reach!

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

The floor lurches again, heaving back and forth. The platform’s stabilization thrusters are no match for the behemoth’s sheer mass, and it is one mad beastie. Gotta drive it back before it crushes us.

I punch the comms. “Zarek and Siminira, take it head on. Kikitak, Abery, loop around and come at it from behind. Maybe we can distract it.”

The channel’s open, so I can hear their chatter as they scramble.

“Is that a cloud-skate?”

“If so, it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”

“Don’t care, work to do.”

“Yeah, come on, we can take it!”

There are only four of them, a dragonkin-ryphorian bonded pair, a renegade haan, and a hotshot human with almost intolerable bluster but enough skill to somehow back it up. They’re good, all of them, but the fighters are tiny compared to this thing. No way they can take it down. Best we can hope for is to distract it, get in its way, run interference. “Buy me some time, I’ve got gunners to back you up.”

Illustration by Alexandur Alexandrov

The turrets are rising from their enclosures, and I tap into Tabbet’s channel just long enough to make sure her team—her family, that is—knows what they’re doing. I’ve never met a group that can cram so many words into such a small space of time, and my command of the Ysoki language is on the rough side at best. Tabbet’s direction carries over the exuberant cacophony at finally getting to use the “big guns,” and the turrets start firing in coordinated patterns and targeted strikes. I close the channel, and I can’t help but chuckle. Why is it that ysoki take such delight in finding the biggest weapons they can?

But the turret fire on this flying plasma worm is like poking a replenigel megavitamin with a toothpick. We’re never gonna take it down like this. The creature lashes out with an electrified tentacle. The platform lurches again, and alarm klaxons start blaring. This one’s bad—if we lose power, we’re cloud-worm food.

I punch up a new channel. “Ithlithoi, you all on that?” Before I’m even done talking, their singsong response is assuring me it’s under control. Thank Weydan for barathus and their combination of adaptability and competence.

Kikitak and Abery sweep just above the central dome, so close it shakes my command tower. The thing lurches after, and a blast of plasma crashes down. The station’s automated fire suppressants kick in to control the blaze. That better not spread to the storage tanks. If they breach, this whole station’ll blow out of the sky.

I stop dead in my tracks. There’s an idea that might save our skin!

I’m shouting orders into my comm unit as I run. The barathus need to drop everything and get the platform stabilization thrusters from the preprocessing dome. “Yes, it’ll fall into the planet’s core. Better it than us!” I want Tabbet and the biggest gun she can find. Need an engineer. “Unit Z-81, get to the tank bay and rip the power core out of our Titan Hauler. Now.”

No time for an elevator; I pull the emergency escape bar on the window and jump out after the falling pane of glass. It shatters as it hits the platform, but I’ve got a spell for this and touch down gently, already sprinting.

Our ragtag team assembles in the tank bay. Z-81 is already hotwiring the starship power core as the barathus strap the platform’s thrusters around the gas storage tanks. Tabbet shows up with a reaction cannon almost as big as she is, grinning ear to ear.

Another crash in the station, and this time the power goes out entirely. I pull up a bit of my own magic and outline everything with a bit of dancing blue-green light so we can keep working. Welders are flaring, wires and straps are sticking up like an electrovore’s spines, sparks are flying everywhere—Weydan help us, I hope this doesn’t blow right here because that’ll be the very sudden end of us all.

And then it’s ready. I call up my fighters as our ad-hoc engineering crew scatters back. “Lead it this way, toward the storage banks. Make it mad enough to scream, then get the hell out of the way.”

I look at Tabbet. “You get one shot at this.” She grins again and leans in to the sight of this makeshift anti-giant-flying-plasma-worm missile we’ve built.

It comes at us fast, fighter thrusters screaming as Zarek and Siminira work in perfect coordination, both peeling off at the last possible second, mere yards from the tank bay doors. The creature’s close on their tails. We’re staring down a tunnel of arcing electricity lined with fangs bigger than a shuttle.

Tabbet pulls the trigger.

At first, nothing, and I wonder if we failed. Then a hum, a whine as the power core overclocks, and a concussive blast that knocks us all to the floor as the reaction cannon fires. The repurposed thrusters kick to life with a deafening roar, flaring like miniature supernovas as they burn through their entire lifespan of output in milliseconds. The entire station lurches back from the recoil as the gas storage tanks go from stationary to a blur that might outpace a Terminator Star Drake racer in the blink of an eye. I’m grateful for the polarized visor I wear—normal lighting is painful enough, this would have left me permanently blind.

Our makeshift meteor careens forward, straight into the arcing blue nightmare maw about to rip our station to scrap, and there’s a horrible moment where I’m convinced it won’t make any difference.

And then it blows, ripping through the creature in a series of phenomenal, scorching explosions as the tons of compressed flammable gas meet the creature’s plasma gullet. It blows apart from the inside out, a spray of gelatinous blue chunks that arc with residual electricity splattering the station’s onion domes. The creature’s seared head squashes gently into the side of the station and spins off, sinking into the depths of the gas giant core below.

I breathe.

The station’s leaning at a precarious angle, knocked almost sideways from the blast, as the remaining stabilization thrusters slowly begin to compensate. I still can’t hear. The station’s emergency lighting flickers and wavers, and I can only imagine that every klaxon aboard is blaring. Guess I’m glad I can’t hear that.

But Tabbet is jumping up and down, pumping her little fist in the air and shouting as a dozen other ysoki pile into the bay and tumble into a celebratory heap. The barathus float over and drape their tendrils across the lot of us in an awkward show of camaraderie. Z-81 rolls up and bumps into my hip, blinking—and presumably beeping—cheerfully. I have no idea what the fighters are saying, but I can see them circling the station. I imagine they’re cheering too.

There’s a ton of work to do, of course, and we’re not unscathed. I’ve got a few burns, angry red showing through purple skin, and Tabbet’s whiskers are scorched down to nothing. Ithlithoi has merged back into one being and is working through several adaptations in a pattern I recognize as one that repairs damaged tissue.

But we’re alive, against all odds, thanks to a desperate plan we pulled off by the seat of our pants. For now, we celebrate, and try not to think about the weeks of repairs still to come. Or the electrified goo slathered over the domes. Or the fact that we just blew up a month’s worth of mining output—and the power core of our only starship. I pointedly ignore the thrusterless preprocessing platform as it slowly sinks into the clouds below.

“All right, everyone. Let’s get this hunk of junk fixed up enough that we don’t sink into the core, and then take it easy. Meet me on the command floor tonight—we’ve got one hell of a party to throw.”

About the Author

Lyz Liddell is a designer for Pathfinder Second Edition at Paizo. She writes adventures and rules for Pathfinder and Starfinder, plus an abundance of independent fantasy and science fiction in various stages of editing and querying. You can find Lyz and learn more about her innumerable hobbies on Twitter at @LyzMayTweet.

About Tales From The Drift

The Tales from the Drift series of web-based flash fiction provides an exciting glimpse into the setting of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Written by members of the Starfinder development team and some of the most celebrated authors in tie-in gaming fiction, the Tales from the Drift series promises to explore the worlds, alien cultures, deities, history, and organizations of the Starfinder setting with engaging stories to inspire Game Masters and players alike.

Once again, the Stolen Lands await adventures and rulers! Owlcat Games and Deep Silver have released the critically acclaimed Pathfinder: Kingmaker Definitive Edition on PlayStation®4 and the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X. The game is available at selected retail stores as well as via the digital stores of the respective platforms. The classic RPG will take adventurers to the Stolen Lands, featuring all previously released content packs as well as a brand new turn-based mode.

“Classic RPGs are rare guests on consoles, and we are thrilled to introduce the complete Pathfinder experience to the console owners. And with the new turn-based combat, the players about to get even more gameplay variety they expect from a game of this genre”, states Alexander Mishulin, Creative Director at Owlcat Games.

The wild and dangerous Stolen Lands lie in the northern reaches of the River Kingdoms, realms ripe for the taking! Yet those who would become rulers of these new lands will soon learn that claiming a kingdom and keeping it are two different beasts. Can the heroes protect their lands from jealous and deadly enemies?

Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Definitive Edition Content:
The Pathfinder Kingmaker: Definitive Edition adds all previously released DLC content directly to the game and comes with the brand new turn-based mode, which not only brings the game closer to the tabletop experience but also adds a new tactical layer. Owners of the PC version will receive this new mode as a free patch-update later.

Providing ultimate control over the battlefield, the new turn-based mode works in harmony with the real-time with pause combat and players can smoothly switch between both depending on the situation they face or the way they want to play the game.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker takes players on an adventure through the infamous Stolen Lands, the dangerous and turbulent territories well known within Pathfinder fandom. The RPG revisits familiar characters and well-known locations from the lore of the franchise, and treats players to brand new adventures, deadly foes, and unforeseen twists and turns. Fans of the fantasy pen-and-paper RPG will experience this epic, heroic universe in new ways while computer RPG gamers will discover their favorite genre in a more contemporary light, with stunning 3D graphics that bring the world to life.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker will challenge players as both adventurers and rulers as they claim explored lands and carve their kingdom from the wilderness. Kingdom-founding goes beyond simple stronghold-building to become a true reflection of the hero character and choices made throughout the game. Each kingdom is a living and breathing world, shaped by rules, choices, allies, and the hero's ability to lead his or her people.

The Definitive Edition features all in-game content from previously released DLCs:

• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - The Wildcards
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Varnhold's Lot
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Beneath The Stolen Lands
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Bloody Mess
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Arcane Unleashed
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Royal Ascension

Learn more at paizo.com/kingmakergame!

Check out what we have in store this week on Twitch!

Also if you’re interested in running your own Pathfinder or Starfinder streams, we released some awesome art assets which are free to use for your own shows! You can find them here.

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, Aug 17, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things, Aug 17, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Console Launch stream!, Aug 18, 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Pacific

Join our Pathfinder: Kingmaker console launch livestream where Mark Moreland, Director of brand Strategy and James Jacobs, Creative Director will be joining Owlcat! We will be covering the new console release, the new Definitive Edition, and the new turn-based mode being added to consoles and PC.

Tune in at 11:00 a.m. here: https://www.twitch.tv/owlcatgames

Bedlam & Discord by Dragons & Things, Aug 19, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

Join Game Master Jared Hoy in staying safely at home rolling virtual dice with the friendly cast from Dragons & Things! Grab your Pathfinder 1E rule book and journey through the Jade Regent adventure with this hilarious adventuring group!

Catch them live on Twitch every Wednesday at 6 p.m. Pacific.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast, Aug 20, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

The Band of Bravos!, Aug 21, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest.

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Heroic Endeavors, Aug 21, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

Join Dragons & Things for another Pathfinder Second Edition adventure! Swords will clash, magic will be cast, and critical ones will bring these heroes to their knees. Journey with these heroic adventurers in their custom world of Val’Duren every Friday!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Arcane Mark, Aug 22, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Arcane Mark is a stream with Design Manager Mark Seifter and Organized Play Lead Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer covering all sorts of RPG and Pathfinder-related topics, from GM Tools to Design Diaries to Workshops. Thursday episodes are always interviews, usually covering Paizo staff you might not have seen as often in other interviews. Catch them live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here. (We will be prioritizing Glass Cannon for the broadcast times on Thursday. But once Glass Cannon ends the channel should switch back to Arcane Mark)

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, Aug 23, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, Aug 16, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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Do you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder Live Play? Tell us in the blog comments below! We’re excited to see what stories you come up with.

We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

From the vast reaches of space comes an unusual sight: the first volume of the Devastation Ark Adventure Path for Starfinder, “Waking the Worldseed” by Jenny Jarzabski. This adventure is for 13th-level PCs, marking it as our first official foray into higher-level adventure content! But what is the Devastation Ark and what does it want with the Pact Worlds? Does it spell doom for the system? Or will a group of courageous heroes stop the return of an ancient, warmongering civilization?

Don’t worry, I’m here to give you (some of) the answers. While the spoilers presented here are mild, if you want these adventures to complete surprise you, you might want to skip some of the more revealing plot-related questions.

How many volumes are in this Adventure Path? The Devastation Ark is a 3-part AP.

What are the other titles and who has written those adventures? The second volume of the Devastation Ark is “The Starstone Blockade” by Eleanor Ferron, and the third is “Dominion’s End” by Ron Lundeen.

What levels do these adventures cover? “Waking the Worldseed” will take characters to 16th level, “The Starstone Blockade” will get PCs to 18th level, and before the finale of “Dominion’s End,” the heroes will be 20th level!

How did you plan to fit in all that adventure content? Well, each adventure of the Devastation Ark will be approximately 8 pages longer than normal for Starfinder Adventure Path volumes. To do this, we had to cut one of each volume’s articles, but each volume still contains a new world to explore, a new starship, and a bunch of new high-CR aliens!

Who is this ancient evil? And how are they returning? Those who have played through the Dead Suns Adventure Path might recognize the builders of the Devastation Ark. Millennia ago, the sivv and the kishalee empires were locked in a bloody war that lasted for centuries. The sivvs crafted a deadly superweapon—the Stellar Degenerator—to end their hated foes, but when kishalee spies eventually captured the device, the sivvs eventually lost the war. However, one sivv commandant had little faith in the Stellar Degenerator project and headed a project that would allow a collection of sivvs to escape destruction by going into stasis aboard a massive colony ship. That vessel, dubbed Ark Prime, launched into a kind of “quantum hyperspace” and has spent countless ages waiting for the right time to emerge and rebuild the Sivv Dominion!

Will there be any tie-ins to other Adventure Paths? Yes! The Devastation Ark is designed to be played by any group who has completed any of our other 6-part Adventure Paths (or Signal of Screams), with advice for the GM to help bring those PCs into the plot.

The first volume mentions a gazetteer of the moon of Hibb. What do the bantrids have to do with this plot? Our little wheeled aliens (as seen in the art below) have a mysterious past, having only recently awoken from their own stasis with no memory of their history. Without giving too much away, bantrids were a servitor species of the Sivv Dominion, and the moon of Hibb might involve more than meets the eye.

Can you preview some of the other content? “Waking the Worldseed” features a daemon who represents large-scale death by corporate malfeasance, an azata who roots out corruption in business and politics, and a ghostly vehicle called a “death cruiser” (yes, that’s an updated Pathfinder creature!). “The Starstone Blockade” features an article about the Church of Eloritu, one of the more mysterious deities, as well as a few more powerful outsiders. “Dominion’s End” features a collection of sivv relics and stats for the toughest sivv soldiers and mages.

Illustration by Franklin Chan

We’ll have more about this AP as it gets closer to the release date. I hope that in August, you’ll grab your parallax laser pistols and join the fight to stop the Devastation Ark!

Jason Keeley
Developer

Janira shuffles the papers in front of her, smiling as she scans the contents, setting each to the side in a neat pile once she finishes reading. After placing the last one gently on top of the stack, she leans back in her chair and sighs. “So fortunate,” she mutters softly. “With all the chaos sown by the Whispering Tyrant, the sight of so many busy agents pleases me.” She pulls a clean piece of parchment from a desk drawer. Dipping her quill in the inkpot, she pauses thoughtfully. “Time to answer, Gavix. Remember the tone – cheerful, excited, and full of optimism.” As the quill scratches the parchment, she sighs once more. “Desna smile on their operations. We could use a bit of fortune at this point.”

Paizo-Sponsored and Paizo-Licensed Events

Greetings organized play members! Just a quick update to chat about our next series of online events. The events below qualify for Premier Plus Event status. GMs, for more information, join the discussion on the OPF Major Events discord. For the Paizo-sponsored events, the Organized Play Foundation’s website lists GM rewards plus contact information for the organizing committees.

PaizoCon Francia – August 14-16 (Geneva, Switzerland)

Going on this weekend! If you are in the Geneva area and want to attend, you can find more info on their Warhorn site.

Virtually Expo (UK Games Expo) – August 21-23 (Online)

The UK biggest games convention moved online! The schedule of games and registration is available on the Virtually Expo website.

Pax Online (PAX Aus/PAX West) – September 12-20

We are utilizing Warhorn as the scheduling mechanism for this show, alongside VTTs of GM choice and discord. Our planned schedule includes 14 tables each block during the weekend and 2-5 tables during 1 block a day total during the week (and nothing the following weekend. GMs that want to run the weekend of 19-20 should submit games to TPKon (see below).

To register for the Paizo Organized Play Online Events discord, follow this link. If you already joined for PaizoCon Online, ConCurrent, and Gen Con Online, you don’t need to rejoin, just keep an eye on the server about a week before the event to see when we open the channels for the convention.

We will open Warhorn registration for GM to choose their tables to run on the 22nd and player signups on the 5th of Sept.

Non-Paizo Sponsored Events:

We posted a list of other conventions in the August Update blog, but we’ve had two additions since then.

DragonCon Online – August 29-31. This is being planned by the local organized play community and more information is available on the DragonCon website or by contacting RVC David Shaw via email at apparvc@gmail.com.

TPKon 9 – September 18-20. An online region supported convention with GM submissions currently going on. You can find more information on the TPKon website.

Come back next week for more organized play information!

Until then,

Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Definitive Edition comes to consoles on Tuesday, August 18! The new edition will take adventurers to the Stolen Lands and feature all previously released content packs, as well as a brand-new turn-based mode

The wild and dangerous Stolen Lands lie in the northern reaches of the River Kingdoms, realms ripe for the taking! Yet those who would become rulers of these new lands will soon learn that claiming a kingdom and keeping it are two different beasts. Can the heroes protect their lands from jealous and deadly enemies?

Join the launch stream at 20:00 CET / 11 AM PDT where Owlcat Games team members, Paizo Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs and Paizo’s Director of Brand Strategy Mark Moreland will be introducing all of the new features coming to console and PC. Mark and James will be talking about the lore behind the game as well. We’ll be giving away some free console codes too!

Learn more today at paizo.com/kingmakergame!

Join in live Tuesday, August 18: twitch.com/owlcatgames

I smile encouragingly at the wounded dragonkin. Trinek stares at the empty beach, holding his surfboard in front of him as if wondering how he and it got here. Even now, the program was backfilling the memory of a long shuttle ride in which he’d spent most of the time staring gloomily out the windows thinking about his dead partner, Lily.

“We’re... going surfing?”

“That’s right. You can call me Maro.” I let Trinek look me over, an old scarred winterborn ryphorian woman in a Second Skin wetsuit. I know that his eyes linger on the scars, wondering how I got them. I let him wonder. “C’mon, time for your first lesson.”

He limps awkwardly after me, his claws tensing on the brilliant white sand on this deserted beach in Grenloch. He’s suspicious of the sun and this brilliant warm day, shading himself protectively with his wings. He’s twitchy, anxious, continually looking for fighters overhead, or dangers waiting to ambush him behind any rock. I let him limp around the perimeter, looking for the enemies that are not there.

I introduce him to the board while still on the sand, show him how to position his body, balance, paddle. “As your leg gets stronger, we’ll work on other positions, but for now, the basics.” He picks it up quickly, and soon we transition to the water, paddling out.

As we paddle, he glances around suspiciously. “Shouldn’t Grenloch be more crowded, fancy resort like this?”

“Sure, near the dining areas and the hotel. But the waters are rougher here, and that keeps the tourists away. It’s the only reason they lease this spot to veterans. You and I are gonna be roughing it. Camping in the shuttle, fishing to supplement our supplies. And surfing and swimming each day until you heal up that leg.”

And that mind. I am going to keep you so busy that you forget to keep blaming yourself.

I teach surfing elsewhere on Grenloch. There are currently twelve copies of me teaching wealthy clients one-on-one at the resort. Most of the basics are standard enough that I can let the copies run on autopilot for a bit, giving me more bandwidth here.

With the wealthy clients, I start out easy, with a few perfect waves and good weather to build confidence. For Trinek, I’ve programmed the water to be difficult. He’s paddling against the tide, and surprise waves unseat him from his board multiple times. He has to work for it. More than once, he goes under. In his second skin, he’s in no danger of drowning as he swims furiously up to the surface. He mounts his board again, and the difficulty of just staying atop it is what sells this illusion for him.

“Trinek!” I bark out like the drill sergeant I once was. “You gonna give in to the water, or you gonna master it?”

No legionnaire is going to let a drill sergeant see them fail. No matter how much they’re hurting inside. He gets on top of the board, paddling fiercely out, not letting it unseat him.

Good.

Then the waves reward him, carrying him out, and he’s riding with them, and I hear a “Whooooo! Who’s the wave master now?”

I let him have that moment, then dump him under again. As he grimly claws back onto the board, he grunts. Still, he knows he can do it now, and he paddles out again.

---

Later, I pull out the fishing gear. “I had enough crappy rations while I served. Want to help me fish?” He’s exhausted, but he can’t admit it yet. He shrugs, nervously, but then I toss him a beer. “C’mon, soldier. Drunk fishing is a tradition.”

“Alright,” he opens the beer. “I don’t see how being drunk helps us fish, though.”

“If we don’t catch anything, the rations taste better,” I say with a grin. He laughs, and we get to it.

This I don’t put on hard mode. He needs some victories. Once we bring in our catch, I make a show of cooking it with the spices and herbs I brought. He eats with appreciation. Afterward, both exhausted, we lay on the damp sand, eight feet apart, looking up at the stars. The other copies of me have taught their lessons and are now off duty, so I can be fully present in this time and place.

“I can’t believe this is still Triaxus. This beach... This sand...”

“They told me it was because of a microclimate,” I say, half-truthfully. They tell everyone that, even though our unconscious bodies are hundreds of feet underground in a virtual reality bunker. The real Grenloch, while still warmer than the rest of the planet, is covered in snow. “Does it matter?”

“Maro?” he asks. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Those scars... you served in the Skyfire Legion, right?”

“Nine and a half years.” It’s the truth and I know he can feel it. “We did a tour of bugtopia. Carn never made it home. Swarm.” I’ve told this story two hundred times now, and grief gets me every time. I don’t have to fake the tears glistening in my eyes. I just let the stars and the silence tell my story.

“What was Carn like?” he asks.

“Goofy.” I say with a half-smile. I pull up pictures of Carn dumping snow on my head, and another of me dumping it right back down his uniform. Finally, I pull up an image of the last parade we’d been in, all of us marching through the frosty streets of Cumo, dress uniforms and rifles, trying to look fierce. “Before we went out, the Legion held this parade to suck up to Xandrig, the director of Sinterfang. It was stupid, but we needed the funding. Xandrig loved having the crowd shout for him, and Carn loved strutting in uniform.”

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

“Lily loved the uniform too.” Then Trinek tries to muffle his sobs, and I’m up, holding and rocking him, as if I was his mother and he were newly hatched. The sobs wrack his body, and I know he’s remembering. Bonded partners are closer than lovers or twins. They’re the other presence that always lives in your head, the soulmate who did everything with you, and who’s now been ripped from your mind, leaving nothing but a gaping hole. It’s a searing psychic wound. Some grieving warriors fall into a hole so deep they never come out of it, willing themselves to die so that the pain will stop.

Or... they find another calling and purpose, like I did.

About the Author

Hilary Moon Murphy is a librarian, martial artist, and mom who has contributed to over a dozen different Paizo products.

About Tales From The Drift

The Tales from the Drift series of web-based flash fiction provides an exciting glimpse into the setting of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Written by members of the Starfinder development team and some of the most celebrated authors in tie-in gaming fiction, the Tales from the Drift series promises to explore the worlds, alien cultures, deities, history, and organizations of the Starfinder setting with engaging stories to inspire Game Masters and players alike.

Paizo’s Community Use Policy is a living document, and we’ve taken the opportunity to update it to make it more clear in how you’re allowed to use Paizo content for all the amazing things you create. We’ll continue to update the CUP as new technologies and opportunities come along.

There isn’t much of a change between the new policy and the previous one, but we hope that the reorganization and callouts for Twitch and YouTube make the policy easier to understand and encourage you to share your excitement about our games in the communities most important to you.

Thanks again for your support of Paizo!

Jim Butler
VP of Marketing & Licensing

We’re back from Gen Con Online! We hope you enjoyed the various online panels we had. If you are wanting to view the latest reveals, you can check out our youtube video here. But for now, here are various community streams happening that you might want to check out!

Also if you’re interested in running your own Pathfinder or Starfinder streams, we released some awesome art assets which are free to use for your own shows! You can find them here.

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, Aug 10, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things, Aug 10, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, Aug 11, 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us.

Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Bedlam & Discord by Dragons & Things, Aug 12, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

Join Game Master Jared Hoy in staying safely at home rolling virtual dice with the friendly cast from Dragons & Things! Grab your Pathfinder 1E rule book and journey through the Jade Regent adventure with this hilarious adventuring group!

Catch them live on Twitch every Wednesday at 6 p.m. Pacific.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast, Aug 13, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

The Band of Bravos!, Aug 14, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest.

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Heroic Endeavors, Aug 14, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

Join Dragons & Things for another Pathfinder Second Edition adventure! Swords will clash, magic will be cast, and critical ones will bring these heroes to their knees. Journey with these heroic adventurers in their custom world of Val’Duren every Friday!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Arcane Mark, Aug 15, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Arcane Mark is a stream with Design Manager Mark Seifter and Organized Play Lead Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer covering all sorts of RPG and Pathfinder-related topics, from GM Tools to Design Diaries to Workshops. Thursday episodes are always interviews, usually covering Paizo staff you might not have seen as often in other interviews. Catch them live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here. (We will be prioritizing Glass Cannon for the broadcast times on Thursday. But once Glass Cannon ends the channel should switch back to Arcane Mark)

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, Aug 15, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, Aug 16, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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Do you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder Live Play? Tell us in the blog comments below! We’re excited to see what stories you come up with.

We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

While the writers of our Paizo products are always credited in the front and back of the books, a simple name in a byline doesn’t give readers much information on the people who work to bring the setting to life! To wrap up our preview of Lost Omens Legends, we reached out to the authors of the book with the intent of promoting them—as well as any other personal work they would like to share, so that new fans of their work could find other projects, RPG products, websites, livestreams, and more to enjoy!

Luis Loza
Developer

Art by Nazar Havrulyuk

Alex Augunas
Hello! I’m Alexander “Alex” Augunas, and I had the honor of writing the entry for legendary sorceress Hao Jin, the Ruby Phoenix. This article is super special to me, not only because I love Pathfinder Society and the stories told about Hao Jin there, but also because I was given the opportunity to expand Hao Jin in a way that adds her to Paizo’s ever-growing list of LGBTQ+ characters. Drawing off my own experiences, Hao Jin is confirmed asexual, and I hope that her story helps questioning people discover themselves.

If you want to follow me, feel free to do so at @AlJAug. I’m also a blogger and podcast host with the Know Direction Network, publish Pathfinder- and Starfinder- Compatible content as Everybody Games, formerly Everyman Gaming, and have a Patreon. You can also keep an eye out for me in the Pathfinder Second Edition Advanced Player’s Guide and Starfinder Starship Operations Manual; in the latter product, I’m the madcap who wrote Voltron rules for starships.

Kate Baker
Hi! I’m Kate Baker and I am delighted to have written Queen Telandia of Kyonin for this book. I enjoy elves a lot, and Telandria is an interesting figure within Golarion. Human royalty comes and goes many times within the reign of an elven leader, so she’s always going to have a different perspective. If you’d like to hear more about projects I’ve worked on, please follow me on Twitter at @KateBakerGM!

Allie Bustion
Hey there, Allie Bustion here. I’m a freelance narrative designer and writer who has worked on indie titles of my own as well as some bigger projects like Sea of Legends. Writing Avarneus was particularly important to me, as I’m also Black, non-binary, and sometimes just want to slide into the background to simply listen. I don’t learn state secrets but it does give me some pretty good fodder for interesting characters and stories. You can find my name in some other upcoming books from Paizo and others, on Twitter taking a lot of pictures of my cat, or on Twitch playing Apex Legends probably. If you’re looking for a writer or narrative designer, check my portfolio and email me at allie@madpierrot.design. If you just want to support me making games, I’ve got an itch.io page and a Patreon.

Art by Nazar Havrulyuk

Carlos Cabrera
Hi there! I am Carlos Cabrera, Paizo and third-party freelancer for Pathfinder. For Lost Omens Legends, I wrote about the Pactbroker of Katapesh, Hashim ibn Sayyid. It was a lot of fun to write about someone who has been around Golarion for the past 10 years and has not played too large a role, at least not yet! This allowed me a lot of creativity to come up with everything he has been up to since, and if you have a keen eye across Paizo’s other products, you are in for a real treat.

If you would like to see my other work for both editions of Pathfinder or need another freelancer, you can go to carloscabrera.carrd.co. I also have some voice acting experience for a game on Steam, and my face was scanned for State of Decay 2. Check out the trailers at the link and then go kill zombies with me! My other gaming obsession is creating characters who did not make the cut for the upcoming Street Fighter Miniatures Game Kickstarter release, just for fun. Can you tell I play Shadow Lodge? Leave no player behind!

Jessica Catalan
Hi, everyone! My name is Jessica Catalan. I had the honor of penning a new chapter in the tale of Belimarius and Sorshen for Lost Omens Legends. I’ve been a freelance ttrpg author for almost a year and a half. In that time I’ve written three Starfinder Society Scenarios and contributed to a dozen other projects for Paizo, which will be releasing over the course of the next year or so. I’ve also written three adventures for Dungeon in a Box; contributed to Rusted Iron Games and the Hard Wired Island RPG; and contributed to both Wayfinder #19 and #20 alongside my children. In between freelancing, I run d20diaries.com, a personal blog focusing on my family's experiences in gaming. You can follow me on Twitter (@d20diaries), Instagram (d20diaires), and Facebook (D20 Diaries). I hope you love Lost Omens Legends as much as I do!

Ryan Costello
I’m Director of Operations at the Know Direction Network. Writing for Lost Omens: Legends is my first Pathfinder 2e work for Paizo, and my first Paizo credit since my oldest daughter was born. I am glad to be back, and was ecstatic to be assigned Khismar Crookchar. He was one of the book’s blankest slates, only appearing in a sidebar in the Lost Omens World Guide that alleged he was a notable figure in the Broken Lands. With four pages of freedom, I got to turn this blue streaked gnome into a hype-dealing hype addict, protected by layers of back-up plans because he is paranoid that everyone is as deceptive as him.

I loved the collaborative way in which Luis and Eleanor managed us Legends freelancers, and particularly enjoyed working with Ashton Sperry to flesh out Khismar’s relationship with Kevoth-Kul. I love the dynamic of their relationship; it’s like Conan with a laser sword hanging out with Salacious Crumb on Red Bull.

Hopefully Pathfinder enthusiasts catch on to how special and fun Lost Omens: Legends is. I will do my part to promote it on my podcast at knowdirectionpodcast.com

Art by Dominik Derow

Greg Diaz
Hi, I’m Greg Diaz, and I developed the Nex entry for Lost Omens: Legends. Nex was a thrill to write, this looming figure of historical importance, remembered because of the awesome monuments and terrible ruins he left behind. In writing this brief history, I aimed to portray Nex as a daring egomaniac, always willing to delve a bit too deep, to push just a bit too far in the pursuit of his goals. The world has an uneasy relationship with what Nex has left behind, which makes his history so interesting to chronicle.

I hope you enjoyed my work on Lost Omens: Legends. You can find more of my work @kaijulovesgames.

Steven Hammond
Hi there, I’m Steven Hammond, and it was my distinct pleasure to write the section for Ardax the White-Hair. Orcs have long been a favorite of mine, and I leapt at the opportunity to shed some light on Belkzen’s inscrutable new overlord. He is as one colleague has called him an “orcish Lion in Winter.” He is canny, patient and unperturbed by those who operate on old assumptions and stereotypes. I think Ardax may best be described as a Jacobean George Smiley.

I’ve worked on a handful of other projects for Pathfinder over the last year. I wrote PACS 6-2 Urgathoa’s Persistent Shadow, as well as PACS 7-1 Attack of the Twice Born. I contributed a few spells and general feats to the APG, the Artifacts of Aroden section in volume 6 of Extinction Curse, and if you’re an active member of the Pathfinder Society, you may have played my recent scenario Tarnbreaker’s Trail. If you're interested in seeing what I'm up to, you can follow me on Twitter at @MelechGidon.

Nicolas Hornyak
Hello folks! My name is Nicolas Hornyak, and on Lost Omens Legends, I got to write the story of Magdelena and Martum Fallows, a pair of halfling abolitionists who are the current Farmers for the Bellflower Network. This was my first time writing with Paizo, and I was brought aboard in an active effort to recruit more freelancers from the Latinx community

From the very start, I knew that I’d taken on a huge responsibility. Even in fantasy, you cannot write about slavery (and subsequently, abolitionists) without acknowledging that real people are still affected by the enslavement of their ancestors every day. And even though I’m a Latinx individual, I have not been subjected to racism in the same ways that Black and Brown people have. So I opted to be as cognizant as possible. I read books, listened to podcasts, and dug up articles, because even in Golarion, we must be as diligent as possible when approaching the parallels between fantasy and reality.

What emerged was a pair of halflings who were enabled to seize their own destinies, who understood that the law would neither serve nor protect them in the fight ahead. Magdelena came to represent the station masters and conductors operating the Underground Railroad, while Martum stood in for abolitionists securing money from stockholders. Meanwhile, the Bellflower Network uses quilts to send messages to halflings escaping slavery, while slave-hunters are known to kidnap halflings who were never slaves. All of these details were part of the reality for Black people on the road to freedom and deserved acknowledgment.

Even though I attempted to be as responsible as possible, I wrote this material for people who play Pathfinder. Once the Fallows enter your game, I don’t know what will happen to them. But I hope that players and game masters will also acknowledge the responsibility that comes with approaching topics such as slavery and abolitionism. It’s my hope that, like Earth, slavery in Golarion is considered so evil by Pathfinder players that no PC would support or enable it. It would be a line they wouldn’t cross, no matter what.

I sincerely hope that I did Magdelena and Martum the justice they deserve. But if I made mistakes, I’d rather learn about them than trick myself into thinking I did everything right. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or my website (nicolashornyak.com) if you want to share them with me.

James Jacobs
I’m James Jacobs and I’ve been inflicting Red Mantis assassins on my players longer than Golarion has existed. But they don’t always have to be the antagonists of the story. I’ve always wanted to do an Adventure Path where the entire party plays Red Mantis assassins who, at some point during the campaign, have to sneak into the Crimson Citadel and explore a wing of the dungeons below that have been sealed away for Very Important Reasons. The time’s not yet right for this adventure, but with Blood Mistress Jakalyn’s entry in this book, we’re one step closer!

Art by Tomas Duchek

Michelle Jones
My name is Michelle Jones and I’ve been a freelancer with Paizo for a little over four years now. Legends was my first assignment for second edition, and one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had so far. It was an opportunity to work closely with so many other freelancers to weave together what I think may be one of the most interesting Pathfinder books to date. I’m already hard at work on my next big Pathfinder project, so keep an eye out for my name in the future. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss out. If you want to get in touch with me, I go by AleshaKills on platforms where I wish to be found, including Twitter.

Kristina Sisto Kindel
Hello all, I'm Kristina Sisto Kindel, a gamer, oxford comma enthusiast, and content creator based in the Pacific Northwest. Creating is my passion, whether it is a written story, vocal or theatrical performance, art, or knitted item. I adored working on Lost Omens: Legends, and was so proud to be able to expand lore on a powerful woman leader and warrior: White Estrid! You can find my work in Uncaged Anthology Vol. 1, Book of Seasons: Solstices, and DMsGuild and DriveThruRPG spaces. If you want to chat games, writing, early music, or anything really, you can connect with me on Twitter @d20xtina or email me at kristinakindel@gmail.com.

Ron Lundeen
I’m Ron Lundeen, a developer on the Pathfinder Adventure Path line here at Paizo. I wrote up Abrogail Thrune and Wynsal Starborn for this book. The latter was easy—his story was already in my head, as I included him as an important NPC in the back of Pathfinder #160: Assault on Hunting Lodge Seven at about the same time. But my favorite part was writing the sample infernal contract for Abrogail Throne. I spent many years as a contract lawyer, and it was a joy to include so many of the sneaky, one-sided, unenforceable, and arguably illegal contractual provisions I’d had thrown at me over the years. You can check out my RPG advice, including an entire free Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path I wrote, on my blog at RunAmokGames.com. I’m available for freelance for any number of game systems at rules.lawyer.ron@gmail.com.

Stephanie Lundeen
Hi, I'm Stephanie Lundeen. I've been a freelance editor for years and am excited to be moving into more writing. I enjoyed revisiting the city of Kintargo in crafting a backstory for the Sapphire Butterfly, a new hero arising from the rebellion there and a key figure in the Golarion-spanning Firebrands. I particularly enjoy bringing people and places to life through detailed histories and descriptions, and I often draw on my study of medieval and Renaissance literature (I earned a doctorate in English) to do so.

Art by Hassan Tabrizi

Fabby Garza Marroquin
Hi, I'm Fabby Garza Marroquin I'm a games writer and podcaster from San Antonio Texas. Getting to work on Lost Omens Legends has been one of the highlights of writing table top games, not only is everyone involved with this book amazing but the fact that we created such a fantastic and truly diverse set of characters together warms my heart.

Working on a new character like Sihar I got the chance to be as self-indulgent as possible and I'm forever grateful to Luis and the rest of the team for being super encouraging when I turned in a draft about a queer trans woman and all her queer revolutionary friends and I can't wait for y'all to meet and maybe even join them in their quest to overthrow the child God.

You can find more of me, my projects and games over at @Fabby_Garza on Twitter.

Sydney Meeker
I'm Sydney Meeker and I wrote the section for the Whispering Tyrant, Tar-Baphon. I had read about the character before, but when I signed up to write for his section I had no idea just how much research I was in for and what a fun trip it would be. Like many of my fellow TTRPG writers, I'm fascinated by lore and histories, so all of my research, cross-checking, and looking through documents helped me land on the tone I ended up ultimately using in this section, one of morbid reverence while taking in just the vastness of how much this character has affected Golarion. Much of my freelance work involves writing in a pre-existing world, so I'm immensely happy I got to be part of Pathfinder's remarkable and wide-ranging lore. I work mostly as an editor and writer for video games, dipping in and out of worlds. If you'd like to see more of what I've worked on or hire me, check out my website at www.sydneymeeker.com or contact me on Twitter @SydMeeker.

Matt Morris
Hello everyone!
I’m Matt Morris, and I’ve been lucky enough to do freelance writing for Pathfinder and Starfinder for several years now, working with Paizo and a few 3rd-party companies, including Everybody Games and Rogue Genius Games.

The Lost Omens line for Pathfinder Second Edition has given me the opportunity to explore some of my favorite parts of the setting, from characterizing the membership of several organizations in the Lost Omens Character Guide to providing details on Norgorber and Groetus in Lost Omens: Gods & Magic, and I can’t wait for everyone to see what is in store from the line in the future! In Lost Omens: Legends, I tackled the complex relationships between some of Qadira’s power players: Xerbystes II, Hebizid Vraj, and Deena al-Parishat.

I keep an up-to-date list of my work on my Paizo profile, and I’m always looking for interesting projects, so feel free to send me a message via the forums if you are looking for a reliable writer!

When not writing, I’m teaching high school English near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Patchen Mortimer
I'm an ad agency copywriter and DJ from Baltimore. (Those Haribo ads where the kids ran the gummi bear factory—I wrote those!) But most people know me from The Daily Bestiary (dailybestiary.tumblr.com and dailybestiary.blogspot.com), where I spent 7+ years writing adventure seeds for nearly every monster in the Pathfinder Bestiaries.

For Paizo, I love writing backmatter articles for Pathfinder Adventure Path and fleshing out heritages and backgrounds for PCs in hardcovers like Pathfinder Lost Omens: Character Guide. But I’m thrilled whenever I get to delve into unexplored corners of Golarion, so working on Pathfinder Lost Omens: Legends was a special treat—I got to do something with elves(!), as well as put my love of sailing novels to use!

Please find me on Twitter @patchdj. If your game world needs new cultures, subraces, settings, lore, or monster expertise, we can talk freelancing at patchen.mortimer@gmail.com.

At time of writing, my radio show is somewhat on hiatus due to the pandemic, but you can sometimes find me on Instagram on Tuesday nights at @wmucradio. Otherwise, look for me on 88.1 WMUC-FM College Park or at wmuc.umd.edu.

Art by Katerina Kirillova

Dennis Muldoon
Hello! My name is Dennis Muldoon, and I wrote the Licktoad Goblins entry for Lost Omens: Legends. We Be Goblins! was one of the first Pathfinder adventures I ever played, and the whole We Be Goblins! series still rank among my very favorites as both a player and a GM. I was thrilled to get a chance to write about the further adventures of Chuffy, Mogmurch, Poog, and Reta, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! You can see more of my work in PFS Quest #7: A Curious Claim, PFS Scenario #2-00: King in Thorns (co-written with Kate Baker), and in the Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide, as well as in the most recent issue of Wayfinder. You can find me on Twitter at @dkmuldoon.

Andrew Mullen
Howdy, folks! I'm Andrew Mullen, and you might recognize me from adventure backmatters, insufferable puns on social media, or the Magaambya section of the Lost Omens Character Guide. Working on the latter was a big boon for my part in Legends: Old-Mage Jatembe! I was thrilled to write about the early days of one of my favorite in-world figures, particularly because I read a ton of folklore and myths as a kid, and portraying his discovery of magic in that style felt like a natural fit. It was also lovely to provide another glimpse at Magaambyan life through the lens of perhaps the most important NPCs in all of Golarion—the spider boyfriends on Lost Omens Character Guide page 99!

There are a few other recent pieces I hope you'll check out. I have xulgath variants in every book of the Extinction Curse AP, as well as a look at xulgath culture in Legacy of the Lost God that I'm particularly proud of. I wrote about giant trees and Ghorus Prime for Near Space. Finally, you can hear a recent interview with me on the Know Direction podcast!

Hilary Moon Murphy
Hey, I’m Hilary Moon Murphy, aka Hmm. I’m a librarian, freelancer, mom, and proud GM with Paizo’s Organized Play program. Writing the Artokus Kirran’s section of this book was an utter delight because I got to resolve two apparently conflicting pieces of information in Artokus’s story: first, that he taught students, and second... that no one had seen him in living memory! I wrote a piece of short fiction illustrating a day in Artokus’s life, and tell a side of his story that no one has seen before... and introduce two characters pivotal to Artokus’s story.

If you liked my fiction, I have some free audio fiction short stories on Podcastle. Or if you want to see other recent projects, I wrote for the Starship Operations Manual and authored the “Magical Academies” article in Threefold Conspiracy #6, Puppets without Strings. Or if you would like an excellent free adventure, check out the “Wandering Water Bear” in Wayfinder 20!

Art by Juan Miguel Lopez Barea

Amirali Attar Olyaee
I’m Amirali and I am very happy and thankful to have contributed to this absolutely incredible project! I’m very thankful to Paizo for the opportunity, and I genuinely enjoyed spending the time working on this project working with an extremely talented and creative group of people and learning so much from them. I hope to continue writing fantasy and fiction, either as part of other wonderful projects, or through short or long stories across various mediums.

I’ve always had a deep interest in fantasy and science fiction settings, the creativity that flows through them, and the infinite possibilities they offer for exploring all manner of themes, concepts, and ideas. I enjoy running tabletop RPGs, seeing how the players react to the world, how they deal with complicated decisions, and where the story goes once the characters of that story have full agency of their actions.

If any of that sounds interesting, feel free to follow me @_WritingBot on twitter where I’ll be sharing snippets of games I’m running, and updates on projects I’m working on!

Mikhail Rekun
Добрый день, уважаемые читатели! My name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Rekun, and you may best know me as the author of the Kortos Mounts Gazetteer (AP #156), PFS 1-15 Blooming Catastrophe, and the human ethnicities in Lost Omen Character Guide. When not writing about Abyssal leshys and depressed lich-queens, I’m a Russian-American historian and educator (I have a book! How Russia Lost Bulgaria, 1878-1886: Empire Unguided, Lexington Books, 2018).

In Legends, I wrote Baba Yaga and Eutropia. Baba Yaga is a figure of enormous cultural significance in the former Soviet Union, and writing her was, truthfully, an honor. It was also the first and probably the last time that the rest of my family actually understood what I was writing.

Eutropia, meanwhile, was great fun. War for the Crown is perhaps my favorite Adventure Path, and the narrator of her section, Samel Maleagant, Senior Priest-Advocate of the Court of Black Paper, is an old PC of mine and someone you’ll be seeing again – he features in Absalom, City of Lost Omens. I’ve a few more projects forthcoming from Paizo, so until next time, please direct professional inquiries and rapturous adulation to MRekun@Gmail.com. Досвидания

Mark Seifter
I'm Mark Seifter, Paizo's design manager and one of the four leads on the creation of Pathfinder Second Edition.

In Lost Omens Legends, I created Kassi Aziril because I wanted people to see a heroic, complex Rahadoumi woman who strongly believes in the Laws of Mortality, rather than previously where the Rahadoumi always appear as adversaries. You might have noticed Kassi's work spreading across the land with the introduction of feats like the Battle Medicine feat and some Rahadoumi Medicine feats, and the truly eagle-eyed of you might remember she was in the Gamemastery Guide in the Rahadoum nation statblock.

Check out my twitch stream with Linda Zayas-Palmer, Arcane Mark, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7PM Pacific, and Saturdays at 10 AM Pacific at https://www.twitch.tv/arcanemark. We cover a variety of RPG and Pathfinder topics on Tuesdays and Saturdays, chosen by the viewers, with interviews on Thursdays!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Owen K.C. Stephens is a former Paizo employee and 20+ year veteran of the tabletop RPG industry, who has worked on products for five editions of D&D, two of Pathfinder, the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, its Beginner Box, and more than a half-dozen other RPGs. He was delighted to work on this book, especially the opportunity to get to write some things about dwarven kings and history again. You can find his every-weekday game posts at his blog, support him on his Patreon, and check him out on Facebook and Twitter.

Art by Juan Miguel Lopez Barea

Ashton Sperry
Howdy, I'm Ashton Sperry, writing to you from a hot summer day in Boise, Idaho! I wrote the entry on Kevoth-Kul, one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite corners of Golarion. Before this, you might recognize my name from the Pathfinder Paper Minis line, or as N'wah on the boards here.

I could understand a lot of folks dismissing the old Kevoth-Kul, a puppet warlord addicted to Numerian fluids and controlled by the Technic League. Some groups may have even killed him in Iron Gods! But I thought the idea of the immortal, powerful black sovereign, now in full control of his faculties and out from under the League's thumb, looking to unite all the Kellid clans under one banner, to be compelling. Hopefully you will too. And wait 'til you check out the new alloy he invented: sovereign steel!

You can find me these days @WhoTweetedThis on Twitter, and feel free to check out my Patreon where I manage a Google Drive full of free tokens, portraits, my complete illustrated Strange Aeons campaign journal (The Mythos Notes of Astrapi Mirous) and more at www.patreon.com/WhoFundedThis. Thanks!

Isabelle Thorne
Hello, readers! My name is Isabelle Thorne (previously Isabelle Lee), and I’ve been a contributor for a few years now. I’ve written some of just about everything Paizo offers; my Paizo work tends towards the mechanical, but I like to write flavor material whenever I can. And as a queer trans girl, writing LGBTQ+-inclusive content is of particular interest to me.

For Legends, I had the opportunity to expand on my work for the Lost Omens Character Guide by detailing Kalabrynne and Clarethe Iomedar, the most respected of the Knights of Lastwall. This book’s brand-new in-universe approach allowed me to really play with prose, writing about the mother and child from the viewpoint of an ardent admirer. I’m indescribably proud of what I’ve written here, and I hope you all love it as much as I do.

You can find me on Twitter at @ThornyRoseGames; I’m always potentially open to work opportunities and sensitivity reading. In addition, I (still) have a Patreon, and I’m finally starting to put content on it! I’m planning to release content monthly(ish), covering both editions of Pathfinder as well as Starfinder. If that sounds interesting or you like my other work, please have a look!

Lost Omens Legends is available now!

OPM Musings

Wow. Eleven weeks. That is how long it's been since we decided to move PaizoCon online. In those eleven weeks, we’ve organized three major online conventions with over 2,700 games. Huge thank yous to all the GMs, HQ, and organizing committee volunteers who jumped in to help us bring the program online. While we aren’t finished with our online events (Virtually Expo and PAX Online are coming up soon), there is a bit of breathing room for us to evaluate our methodologies and streamline some best practices. The reality is that we aren’t going to have large in person gatherings for the rest of 2020 and potentially into 2021, so we want to establish workable methods to keep our organized play programs functioning in our new existence.

Again, a HUGE, MASSIVE, GIGANTIC, COLOSSAL thank you to all those who helped out at Gen Con and our other online events. We couldn’t do it without you!

Scenario Release Schedule

While we hoped the move to work from home wouldn’t impact our release schedule, we had to acknowledge before Gen Con that we just couldn’t quite hit our aggressive release schedule. To save the sanity of all those working on the scenarios, we adjusted our releases slightly. This is our current plan through the end of 2020, though of course unforeseen issues may mean we have to make adjustments.

• July 29th:
• PFS Scenarios #1-24 & #1-25, Quests 12 & 13, SFS Scenarios #3-03 & #3-04
• August 26th:
• PFS Scenarios #2-01 & #2-02, Bounty 1, SFS Scenarios #3-05 & #3-06
• September 30th:
• PFS Scenarios #2-03 & #2-04, Bounty 2, SFS Scenarios #3-07 & #3-08
• October 28th:
• PFS Scenarios #2-05 & #2-06, Bounty 3, PFS Scenarios #3-09 & #3-10
• November 18th:
• PFS Scenarios #2-07 & #2-08, Bounty 4, PFS Scenarios #1-98*, 3-11 & #3-12
• December 16th:
• PFS Scenarios #2-09 & #2-10, Bounty 5, PFS Scenarios #3-13 & #3-14

*SFS #1-98 is a scenario which had a limited release under SFS staff and will now be available to GMs meeting certain criteria. We haven’t finalized the qualifiers yet, but will do so soon and publish in a future blog.

Sanctioning

Last month, the OP team sanctioned the Advanced Players Guide and Lost Omens: Legends for use in the Pathfinder System and updated the Character Options blog accordingly. It is our intention to move this to a full webpage, but that’s still in the queue. The team also opened up kobolds as an always available ancestry in a blog penned by Pathfinder Society developer Michael Sayre.

In Starfinder news, we also announced sanctioning for Starfinder Near Space and the Starship Operations Manual. Rules for both of these books are available in the Additional Resources. We also announced how players can take part in the Tech Revolution Playtest while earning Organized Play credit.

With all this new material, you’d think the team would take a break. But no, the team is eyeing the next set of sanctioning. We don’t want to list anything specifically at this point, but keep an eye on the blogs for more news.

Achievement Points (AcP)

We finished the final tech pieces and rolled out the Achievement Point system for Pathfinder Society (second edition) in July. There are still some bugs in the display (quests/bounties count as .25, but display as 0 due to whole integer rounding logic) and in calculation (some scenarios/quests aren’t giving AcP) that we are working out, but the core pieces of the system work and now we can do some refinements.

Since it is now active, we announced that we intend to move Starfinder Society to AcP at the start of Year 4. If you look at your account, you will see the current pot is named Achievement Points (PFS2ed). When we do the rollout for Starfinder Society, it will be as a new category of Achievement Points - (SFS). So you will earn points based on what program you are playing/GMing.

We have no intention of converting Pathfinder Society (first edition) to Achievement Points. Eleven years of program rewards are too much to convert, so we intend to maintain the current pot of paper boons for the lifetime of the campaign.

Campaign Coins

With all the other moving parts of Gen Con Online, we didn’t give any coins out. Bringing conventions online means we need to rethink how we announce coin recipients and change some of our methods. You’ll see some of these changes in the next few months. Be assured, we are still recognizing our outstanding program volunteers! If you have someone in your area who gives back to your community and who you think epitomizes our organized play program, please send an email with your recommendation to organizedplay@paizo.com.

Stars/Novas/Glyphs

We rolled out our online evaluation program. Venture-captains and regional venture-coordinators conducting evaluations can now enter them on the evaluations tab of their “My Organized Play” section of paizo.com.

Individuals who achieved their 4th rank can now see the status of their progress to 5th rank.

To protect privacy, only Alex and I see the list of open evaluations/qualified GMs. We will be reaching out to GMs on that list who are eligible for evaluations to help them get games scheduled/put them in contact with VCs/RVCs doing evaluations in our online environments.

Convention Listing

While Covid-19 impacted the physical convention scene, we’ve still got a few events running. In-person conventions evaluated the conditions in their particular region and may have additional requirements for attendees. The shifting climate may necessitate changes on short notice. Be sure to check out individual convention websites/social media channels for last minute updates!

If you don’t see a convention on the list that you think should be there, contact the event organizer and ask them to register their event for organized play support!

Convention	Location	Start Date	Status	Interactive Events
PaizoCon Francia	Geneva/Switzerland	8/13/2020	In-Person	SFS #3-00
Shadowcon UK 2020	London, England	8/29/2020	Online
Play-by-Post Gameday IX	Online	9/1/2020	Online	SFS #3-00
ReaperCon Live!	Dallax, TX	9/3/2020	Online
Displacement Con 2020	Online	9/3/2020	Online
Gateway 2020 Online	Los Angeles, CA	9/4/2020	Online	PFS #2-00
PAX Online	Online	9/12/2020	Online
iSydCon 2020	Sydney, NSW, Australia	9/25/2020	Online
BostonMetroCon	Boston, MA	9/26/2020	Online	PFS #2-00
Nuke-Con	Omaha, NE	10/2/2020	Online	PFS #2-00

Don’t forget to come back next week for more exciting organized play news!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Associate

When the explosions started, Navasi’s first thought was, This should speed up the wait, at least.

They’d been hired to escort a caravan running supplies to one of the smaller colonies just in the Diaspora. Rather than provide security on ship, their employer had told them it would be more efficient to use small, single-person starfighters to counter the raiding tactics of the local pirates. Which meant traveling to the military supply station nearest to the caravan, Okira Station, where the Pact Worlds government stored surplus ships.

The plan was to sign some the leases, pay some rental fees, pick fighters, and rendezvous back with the caravan when it came out of Drift. Navasi had mixed feelings about the job, since she was technically wanted dead or alive in the Diaspora by the Sixth Finger, the interplanetary thieves’ guild she once worked for.

But a job was a job.

As office workers ran out of the building in panic, Navasi and her team moved to the nearest window to survey the situation. Navasi couldn’t help but smile at the fleeing civilians. The bureaucrats in Okira had been doing their utter best to bore her team to death, loading them with long waits and endless waiver forms rather than part with any of their precious fighters. Those pen pushers all seemed to have vanished now that the guns were out, leaving Navasi and her team to their own devices.

Outside, swarms of steel-gray fighters with cockpits of crimson glass flew strafing patterns over the outpost. Navasi wondered for a moment if the Sixth Finger had finally caught up to her. But she knew that was wrong. This wasn’t the pirates’ style. Nor did any of these ships display the familiar sigils.

If the Sixth was going to even the score, they’d send someone to do it up close and personal. There seemed to be no pattern to this raid beyond “do as much random damage as possible.” No, this attack had nothing to do with her or her crew. They were just unlucky bystanders who happened to be caught in the crossfire. Already, Okira Station security was launching its own ships in response, leading to that deadly, graceful ballet of single-fighter combat.

Navasi was still wondering what they should do when Obo, ever spoiling for a fight, ignited her doshko and said, “Don’t suppose these cowards will put boots on the ground. Very well, let’s go kill them in the sky.”

Navasi was aware that Obo thought she relied on diplomacy too much. In this instance, though, she was inclined to share the vesk’s preferred tactic. There was a time for talk, but they were already past it. Right now, it was time for fire and chrome.

“Obo’s right,” she said. “It’s not safe on the ground. Everyone pick a ship.”

The vesk grinned as Navasi vaulted over the front desk and opened the computer terminal. Pathetically simple security took only a moment to override. After that, a few seconds of searching allowed her to find the docking bay level outside their building. She punched in the release codes and disarmed all the docked fighters’ cryptolocks.

“Are you sure, captain?” Velloro asked. Navasi followed the lashunta’s stare to Barsala. Navasi knew Velloro could fly, but they both knew Barsala had only minimal piloting skills. The kasatha scientist was brave, reliable, but she preferred to work on the ground and provide backup on a ship. These single-person fighters were incredibly intuitive—a child could fly one—and they’d all practiced in simulators to prepare, but that mattered little if you were flying up against space raiders who knew what they were doing.

“Well, we wanted to take these fighters for a practice ride, right?” said Navasi, leaping back over the counter. “What better way to get a field test? Barsala, just stick close to us.”

The walls shuddered under the impact of more artillery, causing dislodged dust to rain from the ceiling. Alarms screamed. It wouldn’t do to stay here and have the office collapse on their heads. Better to return the favor and see these bastards off. Who knows? The Okira Station officials could be so grateful that Navasi might be able to squeeze a discount out of them.

“The fighters out there have been unlocked and primed for takeoff,” Navasi said, leading them toward the door. “Fan out once we’re in the open! Don’t run in a straight line—don’t give them anything easy to shoot at.”

Easy to say, harder to do. Still, this wasn’t her crew’s first time getting shot at. They left the stale office air and entered a smoky hell. Overhead, most of the raiders were occupied by Okira Station’s deployed response, but more than enough were still concentrating on doing as much damage as they could.

Illustration by Tomasz Chistowski

Velloro formed a shield out of concentrated entropy and moved forward. Barsala followed behind, hesitant, no doubt trying to decide which ship would be best. Heedless of the destruction raining down on them, Obo ran straight for the starfighter with the biggest guns. Navasi saw one that reminded her of the ships she flew back when she was a pirate with another name. That would do nicely.

She’d just started to board her choice when she heard Barsala cry out. The kasatha biohacker stumbled but got to her feet quickly, her eyes wide. She still hadn’t chosen a fighter. She also didn’t notice the raider’s ship barreling down on her, guns blazing.

But Velloro did. Entropy shield raised, he leapt in front of Barsala as the two were enveloped in a fiery explosion.

---

Velloro felt zero hesitation leaping in front of Barsala. He was the Castrovel Crusher and could take the damage. Not only was protecting others instinctual for him, he was only returning the favor. Had not Barsala treated all their wounds countless times?

He didn’t hesitate. He never did, which was how he’d won in the arena all those years.

Still, the raider’s plasma blast was more powerful than he anticipated. It burned through his entropy shield, dissipating it, overwhelmed the energy and platemesh layers of his armor, burning him up inside and out. He tried to dissipate the heat as best he could, but the pain was intense. When the smoke cleared, Velloro looked down at his blistered and cracked skin and his shredded armor. He’d survived, but it was a near thing. He wasn’t sure about flying now, though.

Barsala’s head eclipsed his view of the smoky sky.

“Hold still,” she said and quickly brought out her medkit. In moments, she injected him with several syringes of various colors and applied salves where the burns looked the worst. Through his hazy vision, Velloro admired the calm poise on the kasatha’s face.

Then he noticed something else as well.

“There’s a two-person fighter over there,” Velloro said. “I can fly, you can shoot.”

“That sounds like a fair trade,” Barsala said as she injected more restoratives. Already, he felt worlds better and leapt to his feet.

“Wait, one more,” Barsala said. She pulled forth a green syringe. “If I’m going to rely on your reflexes, I want them to be sharp.” Velloro hated the idea of stims to make him fight better—it felt uncomfortably close to cheating—but if they were both going to fly, it wasn’t just his life in the balance. He nodded and Barsala plunged the injector into him. Immediately, he felt his senses crackle as though electric. Time seemed to slow. The air smelt of melted plastic and sulfurous flame.

Navasi and Obo had already taken off. Best to follow them.

“After you, friend,” Velloro said, as the biohacker jumped in the two-person cockpit.

“Velloro. Barsala, do you copy?” Obo’s voice growled over the fighter’s intercom. “What’s your status? Are you all right?”

“Why Obo, I didn’t know you cared,” said Barsala.

“I’m a little worse for wear,” Velloro said, “but Barsala patched me up quick.”

“Glad to hear it,” cut in Navasi from her own fighter. Velloro could see her ship moving to engage the raiders. “Now get to the sky. Time for a little payback.”

“Roger that,” said Velloro as he fired up the fighter’s engines. “You ready, Barsala?”

He heard the weapon systems on their ship’s go live with a deadly hum. When Barsala spoke, the kasatha scientist no longer sounded scared. “Let’s do this.”

About the Author

Patrick Hurley has had fiction published in Galaxy’s Edge, Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores, Abyss & Apex, New Myths, Arcanist, Aurealis, Frozen Wavelets, The Overcast, and The Drabblecast. He is a 2017 graduate of the Taos Toolbox Writer's Workshop. In 2018, he was a finalist for the Baen Fantasy Award. Patrick lives in Seattle and is a member of SFWA and the Dreamcrashers. He still can’t quite believe he has the good fortune to also be an editor at Paizo.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Announcing Starfinder, a new interactive Alexa game, featuring voice talent Laura Bailey, Nathan Fillion, and many more!

The first three episodes based on the Dead Suns Adventure Path are available starting today in the USA and UK. The Starfinder Alexa game is a multi-part interactive audio adventure that transports players to a futuristic science-fantasy world where they can make decisions to advance and influence the outcome of the story just by using their voice. By simply saying “Alexa, play the Starfinder game,” customers can play one of the most captivating audio games available on Alexa-enabled devices today. Paizo and Amazon collaborated to reimagine the game for Alexa. Fans of the roleplaying game will enjoy this new extension of the familiar world, but previous experience with source material is not required.

Starfinder features an exceptional voice cast of 13 actors, including Nathan Fillion (Castle and Firefly) and Laura Bailey (The Last of Us Part II). Casting was led by the Audible Studios team – featuring some of their most popular performers, with almost 2,000 audiobook performances between them. Starfinder’s script exceeds 745 pages and took a combined 125 hours in the studio to record all of the possible twists and turns, resulting in up to 13 hours of gameplay.

The free-to-play pilot episode of Starfinder, “Scoundrels in the Spike,” debuted in December and was well-received by Alexa users, with a 4.6/5 stars rating. “I love this game!!! The narration is wonderful, and the sound effects are on point. The voice acting is like watching a movie. I can’t wait for the rest of the game to come out!” said an Amazon customer in a review following the debut of the pilot.

In today’s stay-at-home culture, voice and smart speakers are quickly becoming an integral part of people’s lives. Engagement on Alexa has nearly quadrupled over the last two years, with more than 100,000 Alexa Skills available to date. With more and more customers embracing voice, Starfinder is launching at an ideal time, and Alexa provides a unique vehicle for this form of entertainment.

The pilot and episodes 1 to 3 of Starfinder are now available on any Alexa-enabled device, including Amazon Echo, Fire TV, and the Alexa mobile app (explore more Alexa-enabled devices here); players have numerous access points to the game and can resume playing whenever, wherever. The pilot is available in the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. Episodes 1 to 3 are available in the USA and UK with rollout to Canada and more expected soon. Episodes 4 to 6 will be available in October. The pilot is free to play, and customers can purchase each episode for $1.99 or the full season for $9.99.

Owning an Alexa is not required. To play using your smartphone, just get the Amazon Alexa app for Android or Apple iOS devices and say “Alexa, open the Starfinder game.” Learn more at paizo.com/starfinderonalexa.

US Players / UK Players