Giochi Uniti has announced it will release Pathfinder Arena, a new board game set in the Pathfinder roleplaying game’s fantasy fiction Age of Lost Omens setting. The game will be available through a crowdfunding campaign in 2021.

Pathfinder Arena is a competitive strategy game divided into four stages of challenges between monsters and heroes. In each stage, the number and power of monsters increase, while heroes level up and gather resources to gain new skills, magic spells, equipment, and the deities’ favor.

The monsters summoned in the labyrinth never leave their spot, but the labyrinth shape is dynamic and players can change it by moving the board’s tile. Monsters can then be used to attack other players: there will be only one winner.

Watch a live-play of the game at 9 pm in Rome/ 12 noon, Pacific, on Saturday, October 24 at @GiochiUniti on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.

Subscribe to the Pathfinder Arena webpage to be updated on this project and be notified of the crowdfunding campaign: https://www.giochiunitiinternational.com/pathfinder-arena/

We’ve got another full month of PFS adventures, so let’s take a closer look at what the Society is getting up to this month!

Art by Teresa Guido (left) and Nicolas Espinoza (right)

We begin with Pathfinder Society Scenario 2-05: Balancing the Scales, by Jessica Catalan. This level 1–4 adventure continues the year’s metaplot with a visit to the Sewer Dragons of Absalom, who recently encountered a fearsome intruder and have found their scheduled Society contact a no-show. Dustin Knight takes us to Jalmeray in this month’s second adventure, Pathfinder Society Scenario 2-06: The Crashing Wave. Strap on your swim fins for this repeatable level 3–6 scenario, which features underwater combat as the Pathfinder Society comes to the defense of the Monastery of Unbreaking Waves to protect it from an incursion of sea devils!

Until next month,

James Case
Pathfinder Society Developer

“Lights! Camera! Extreme Adventure!!!”

The flashing header of the incoming message stole whatever attention Venture-Captain Naiaj had for her other daily reports. The holographic message hung in the air and demanded attention through its gaudiness and a constant audible jingle that repeated every few seconds. It even had a repeating three-frame animation of the undead mogul, Zo!, rocking back and forth with his microphone. Naiaj was not impressed.

Ignoring the spectacular message for just a while longer, Naiaj returned to her investigation of the request from a retired Starfinder. Colrid was a dromada that Naiaj had the pleasure of serving alongside on missions in years long past. She briefly allowed herself a smile, though it quickly faded as she realized the dire nature of the message; it was clear that Colrid and his fellow herdmates were in trouble.

Checking through several files, Naiaj had already begun formulating her response to this crisis when an incoming communication overrode her console.

“Naiaj, I’ll handle the Colrid situation. It ties in with some of my current agenda, and I’ll be in Near Space with some agents anyways.”

First Seeker Ehu Hadif, the elected leader of the Starfinder Society, appeared in a new holographic window that overtook all others near Naiaj’s desk. The kasatha’s clearly controlled demeanor seemed to diminish the tension of Colrid’s situation.

Naiaj responded, “It’s urgent. I can have everything prepared within...”

Ehu raised one hand to interject, “Your compassion for your fellow agent is exemplary. I’m simply being pragmatic. I’m closest and have a group of appropriately skilled agents to handle this task. I assure you, whatever happened with Colrid and his herd will be investigated by us far quicker than by any group you can assemble from the Lorespire. Don’t worry, Naiaj. Besides, you don’t want other agents to know just how much of a soft spot you have for old Starfinders, do you?”

Grinding her teeth in secret, Naiaj only gave a slight nod in response.

Ehu continued, “Good! Well then, I know you have an especially important mission assignment that you’ve been putting off. The Trillidiem contract with Zo!. I’ll trust you to handle it.”

The message flickered off and Naiaj immediately closed her eyes. “He’s sometimes more direct than I am...” she spoke as she re-opened her eyes. There it was again: the moving animated undead accompanied by his annoying jingle.

Naiaj sighed and finally opened the message.

The Zo! Dome by Franklin Chan and the Zrulicat by Rodrigo Gallo.

---

There’s some exciting scenarios on the docket for this month! First off, Starfinder Society #3-09: Frozen Ambitions: Freeing the Herd by Paizo’s own Diego Valdez continues the Frozen Ambitions story arc and brings the fan-favorite dromadas into a Starfinder Society scenario. Meanwhile, Starfinder Society #3-10: Live Adventure Extreme! by Scott Young is a repeatable scenario for characters in the 5-8 level range that sees them partaking in a variety of scripted combats for the purposes of multimedia entertainment!

That brings us up to speed on what’s coming out this month! I’d like to give a shout-out to the team’s newest developer, Jenny Jarzabski, who handled the development of #3-09. This is her first official development project and I feel she did an awesome job with this scenario. I’m glad to have her help going forward.

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

We launch our kickstarter on the 27th, and we wanted to reach out and give you an update on our progress.

But first, maybe it's best to remind you what it is we're up to. We here are Beadle & Grimm's are building something that we think is unique, and more to the point, something that as gamers ourselves, we've always wanted.

The Complete Character Chronicles is a class specific role playing journal for Pathfinder 2e. What does that mean? It means that we took your character sheet, the rules you need from your character, and an expansive journal, and combined them into one book.

The Character Sheet: 20+ pages (depending on the class) with plenty of room for feats, skills, notes, equipment, loot, and home-brew content. All on heavy paper and a lay-flat binding to stand up to years of use.

The Rules: All the rules from the Core Rulebook and Advanced Player's Guide you need to play your character. If you're a Wizard, you get all the Wizard spells, and just the Wizard spells.

The Journal: Pages of room to tell your story. Beautifully illustrated, with inspirational quotes from the heroes of Pathfinder. Includes additional class specific elements, like a fold out map you can use to build your Wizard's keep.

All the tools to tell your story, and the pages to preserve them.

Please check out our teaser page https://beadleandgrimms.com/pathfinder and sign up for our mailing list.

The day approaches, and we can't wait to show you more.

Bill, Charlie, Jon, Matt, and Paul

Chronicler’s Note
Since before the Gap, dwarven miners used a custom numbering system known as “shifts” to determine the passing of time for their operations. This term is a modern adaptation of Old Golarion dwarven time metrics known as forge-days, which are still counted by some Star Citadel citizens. The exact time measurement of a dwarven shift is relative to the individual project, with some based around the need for rest cycles, while others could be delineated by the completion of specific milestones in a greater project. For example: the task of mining an asteroid with eight rich mineral deposits might be divided into eight shifts.

The use of shift terminology to describe the stages of engagement and arrival of forces for the now infamous Battle of Aledra is believed to have originated with the retired dwarven miner, Brolmor Slagshout, who was instrumental in the early defense of the Triaxian town. Brolmor is known to be one of only a handful of pre-Pact Worlds combatants who refused to abandon the engagement zone throughout the entirety of the conflict. With records of the battle fragmentary on both sides, Pact Worlds officials have often used Brolmor’s description of shifts as a means of expressing the engagement’s order of battle.
–Shaleria Phrain, Starfinder Society Chronicler (320 AG).

---

Brolmor Slagshout was certain that he’d always lived from one disaster to another.

The former miner had survived the chaotic tragedy that claimed the dwarven settlement of Arngrannam. In the aftermath of that calamity, he decided not to join the majority of his kin when they went to build their first Star Citadel. Instead, Brolmor left dwarven society behind and settled somewhere that he hoped he could live out the rest of his days in peace. Unfortunately, in the decades following what everyone now called the Gap, peace was in short supply. Brolmor settled on the quaint Triaxian mountain settlement of Aledra as the perfect place to spend his final years.

And yet, Brolmor now faced a hulking, upright lizard wielding a tri-tipped powered weapon he’d never seen before.

---

Earlier in the day, Brolmor had begun his normal daily rituals as the soft light of the morning sun first illuminated his modest home on Aledra’s outskirts. Upon waking, he dressed in practical, comfortable clothes, made himself breakfast, and then prayed to Angradd, the new dwarven protector. Brolmor still wasn’t used to the high-mountain air, so he always took extra time to get ready, but he had wanted a life of peace and relaxation, so he savored his newfound pace. For breakfast, Brolmor had a simple quiche made from fish imported from Ignomus Bay; in his short time here, he had quickly taken a liking to the Triaxian delicacy. Praying to Angradd still felt strange to Brolmor, and he often wondered if he’d been a devout servant of Torag before the Gap, during which the patriarch of the dwarven pantheon—and de facto patron of dwarves everywhere—disappeared.

His daily rituals complete, Brolmor left for the market to pick up his weekly supplies. After restocking his food stores, he could spend the rest of the day preparing the week’s meals at home. He also hoped to pick up the latest installment of the Starfinder Chronicles if one was available, as he’d become a keen follower of the new broadcast series and thought the next volume would help fill his ample free time.

Stepping into the brisk morning air, Brolmor knew something was wrong before his front door had closed behind him. A small crowd of his neighbors—mostly Triaxus’s native ryphorians and immense dragonkin—stared skyward, mouths agape with terror and wonder. They pointed up at pinprick flashes in the cloudless sky, which created a scintillating light show so faint that the rising sun almost completely obscured it.

While the crowds murmured their theories of what was causing the strange events in the sky, Brolmor knew what was coming. He’d seen it during the final days of Arngrannam, and by the feeling he had in his old bones, he was sure he’d probably seen similar orbital displays in the part of his history now lost to him.

Shaking his head, the elder dwarf turned back into his home and prepared.

---

The first invaders fell from the sky on contrails of fire that afternoon.

They came in a swarm of drop pods and dropships, creating a cordon around Aledra. Smaller units of these unidentified invaders landed throughout the mountains and quickly set up short-range anti-aircraft batteries and communication jammers. Within minutes of the landing, the attackers had cut off all avenues of escape for Aledra’s citizens. Brolmor and his neighbors were on their own.

That’s when Brolmor emerged from his home, bedecked in his panoply of war. He wore the plated heavy armor that had served him in all his prior battles and clutched his powered axe, Rebranda. The weapon was from a life lost to Brolmor in the Gap, and while he knew the name of the weapon he carried, he had no knowledge of its origin. Perhaps the axe had been the name of a loved one, or it had been named by a prior owner. Brolmor would never know the truth, just as so many survivors of the Gap would lack context for much of their lives. He immediately set to work, barking orders at his stunned neighbors with an air of command.

Within thirty minutes, Brolmor had assembled Aledra’s most formidable combatants into a crude defense force, comprised mostly of retired military and former adventurers and the relatively minor security detail that the town employed to fend off bandits and encroaching monsters. Recognizing that Brolmor was clearly more experienced in military matters, even Aledra’s senior security chief instinctively deferred to the dwarf.

“I know when to listen to someone with more experience,” the unusually personable dragonkin security commander admitted before authorizing Brolmor to take his small contingent to meet the attackers outside the settlement.

It took only an hour from the attackers’ initial landing for their first scouting force to make its way to the edge of town. The immense lizard-like creatures came in thick armor and wielded impressive weapons unfamiliar to Brolmor.

No one on either side of the conflict spoke a word.

It remains unclear who fired the first shot, or why, but all accounts confirm that it came from the invaders. The shot missed its intended target, whatever it may have been, but the battle was begun. As if loosed from a cannon, Brolmor hurtled forward to defend his adopted home, bellowing a war cry like nothing his fellow Aledrans had ever heard. Blasts of laser energy and solid projectile rounds peppered Brolmor’s dwarf-wrought armor, with azure fields of energy deflecting the worst of the incoming damage. The invaders didn’t get a chance to release a second volley before the dwarven berserker had entered their ranks, a lone defender in a mass of scaled flesh and thrumming energy weapons.

That’s when the killing started.

The Battle of Aledra, by Tomasz Chistowski

Brolmor Slagshout, honoring his name with a wordless war cry, laid the first of the invaders low with a single swing from Rebranda.

“Let’s get to work then! First shift starts now!” Brolmor shouted at his companions, who roared in response and rushed from behind cover to join the fray.

Chronicler’s Note (Historical Accuracy)
Though the unnamed vesk soldier Brolmor Slagshout slew outside Aledra is considered the first casualty of the ground conflict, Ushataun Genrais is the first recorded casualty of overall battle. Genrais was a ryphorian maintenance worker in the employ of Sanjaval Spaceflight Systems and was onboard one of the orbital satellites at the time of the Veskarium vanguard’s arrival. Genrais was recorded as killed in combat after the Vindicas Tyrant-class starship, Firescale’s Resolve, obliterated the orbital he was stationed on with a disdainful ramming action before any invaders had made planetfall, thus preceding the events of the Battle of Aledra by several hours.
–Shaleria Phrain, Starfinder Society Chronicler (320 AG).

---

The sun set on the terraced fields around Aledra.

Over the course of the afternoon and evening, reinforcements had managed to slip into the area under covering fire from aerial Triaxian defenders. Most of these additional forces joined Brolmor’s forces outside Aledra, though the battle quickly spread beyond the site of the initial skirmish. Now forces clashed within the settlement itself and throughout the surrounding mountain range, and the telltale signs of distant engagements soon assaulted the normally peaceful town just as the invaders had—rising smoke on the horizon, the concussive whump of far-off explosions, and the smell of ozone and blood carried inexplicably far by the thin air. Even the skies had become packed with fighters, low-orbit starships, and the tracer fire of anti-aircraft weapons fired by both attacker and defender alike.

Throughout the escalating war around him, Brolmor kept fighting. Through raw strength and sheer force of will, the dwarf never relented in battling against the invaders who suddenly threatened his adopted home. Allies fell all around him, unremarked on the ground, as Brolmor kept pace with those who stepped up to challenge him. The latest combatant was an intimidating foe, who entered the battle unhelmed and wielding a vicious tri-pointed energy blade, which is whirled in a wide arc. The lizard barked several syllables Brolmor assumed formed words in its native tongue, and smiled, as though the invader was enjoying the combat far more than Brolmor was.

Quick as a flick of its reptilian tongue, the lizard-foe lashed out at the dwarf. Even expecting the attack, Brolmor was caught unaware by the strike, and the tri-tipped blades were stopped only by the force field of Brolmor’s armor. The discharge pushed the enemy back half a step, and Brolmor deftly closed the distance as though the two were tethered to one another with an invisible cord. With his foe forced backward, Brolmor slashed with Rebranda in a wide arc of his own. Armor shattered under the axe’s impact, and the invader took a second step back, panting and wincing in visible pain.

Suddenly, a vast shadow fell over the combatants.

In the sky above, a macabre scene began to unfold. A stream of osseous vessels descended. The pristine bone-white of their hulls stained orange by the dying light of the setting sun. Red beams of light flashed down from the arriving ships, onto the battlefield like searchlights scanning the melee.

As if by instinct, Brolmor and his surviving allies, as well as the surprised invading forces, backed up from the battle line, a gulf quickly forming before the two forces as each reassessed the situation. Starring up at the sky, Brolmor wondered if these newcomers—he recognized them as the starships of the dreaded undead from the world of Eox—had come as friend or foe.

“Well, friends,” he muttered dryly, scanning the awed, upturned faces of his compatriots, “looks like the second shift is about to begin!”

About the Author

Thurston Hillman is the Starfinder Society Organized Play Campaign Developer. He lives in the frigid ice deserts of Canada, where he's written and developed several products for both Starfinder and Pathfinder. Prior to working at Paizo, Thurston worked in the aviation and technology fields where he travelled the world for several years. You can find Thurston on Twitter at @OnCallGM.

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.

With the Lost Omens Pathfinder Society Guide now out, I wanted to delve a little further behind the scenes to the authors who actually wrote the material contained within. 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! As a final blog to wrap up our promotion of the latest Lost Omens book, I 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 promote, so that new fans of their work could find other projects, RPG products, websites, livestreams, and more to enjoy!

Eleanor Ferron
Pathfinder Developer

Art by Hazem Ameen

Mike Kimmel
Hey folks! I'm Mike Kimmel, and I've been writing for Paizo since 2014. The Pathfinder Society program holds a special place in my heart, and it was an honor to contribute to this book. I wrote about the Pathfinder Society in the Lost Omens Character Guide, and I was able to expand on the various schools of the Society in this book. As a teacher, it was fun to imagine what sorts of people one might encounter in an institution like the Pathfinder Society, where an agent's training and knowledge can mean the difference between life and death. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed writing about them! Keep an eye out for my occasional Pathfinder or Starfinder Society scenario, and feel free to reach out any time if you're interested in writing for RPGs yourself. I am the founder of Freelance Forge, a forum for RPG freelancers. You can learn more at https://freelanceforge.boards.net/, or get in touch with me personally on Paizo.com or at https://twitter.com/_MikeKimmel.

Art by Raf Kayupov

Ron Lundeen
I’m Ron Lundeen, a developer on the Pathfinder Adventure Path line here at Paizo. I wrote up Nexus House for this book. I’ve become a big fan of Nex recently, having set a Pathfinder Society scenario there as well as linking a few other projects to that magic-filled land. Making the place feel truly magical was a lot of fun, as was fleshing out its history and its very enthusiastic vash-vatom (or venture-captain). 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.

Dennis Muldoon
Hello! I'm Dennis Muldoon, and I wrote the Pathfinder Gear and Pathfinder Agent Feats sections of the Pathfinder Society Guide. The Pathfinder Society is a huge part of my life as a gamer, and I have a lot of love for the Society both in-world and as an organized play campaign. In addition to being a freelance writer I'm a Venture Lieutenant and frequent GM for my local Pathfinder Society lodge, and have written several adventures for Pathfinder Society Organized play (Quest #7: A Curious Claim, and PFS #2-00 King in Thorns). I'm excited to see a whole book focused on the Society, and I'm thrilled to have been a part of bringing it to life. You can find more of my work listed on my Paizo profile (https://paizo.com/people/DennisMuldoon), and can follow me on Twitter at @dkmuldoon.

Michael Sayre
Yo! Michael Sayre here, former PFS developer and now designer. Freelancing on this book was a lot of fun for me. Some of my favorite characters, like Bjersig Torrsen from the Iceferry Lodge and Narsen from the Exalted Lodge, got more screen time in a way that can be hard to do in a scenario, so giving them a bit of a spotlight here was really exciting. It was also a blast getting to deliver the rest of the Rain of Embers feats and some cool mechanics to connect with characters like Stella Fane and Marcos Farabellus. Feats that have a history in the game and carry the names of characters who are part of the world are something that I’ve always loved to see in RPGs, and I really enjoyed getting to bring them to this edition. At least for the time being, this is probably my favorite Lost Omens book; I’ve even “stolen” a lot of these characters and options and dropped them into my non-Golarion home game!

Art by Sarunas Macijauskas

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 Pathfinder Society Guide, I wrote the aeon stones, the wayfinders, and then a grab bag section including the new specific familiars. Normally because of the timelines of publishing, it wouldn't be feasible to use the rules from a release as recent as Advanced Player's Guide in this product, but as the creator of the specific familiar rules for that book, I made it work. So please adopt a dweomerkitten!

Check out my twitch stream with Linda Zayas-Palmer, Arcane Mark, Tuesdays 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! (we also have interviews on Thursday at 7PM Pacific, but those are currently on hiatus)

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Hi! I'm Linda Zayas-Palmer, Paizo's Organized Play Managing Developer. I joined the Pathfinder Society OP campaign back in GenCon 2009 (wow, time files!) and became a Pathfinder Society developer five years ago. Nowadays, I do development and logistics for all three Organized Play programs.

I wrote several sections of this new Lost Omens book, including the sections for the Horizon Hunters faction, the Grand Lodge, and the Woodsedge Lodge, and I helped out with background research/canon checking. Other than this book, which I'm super-excited to have been a part of, the two projects I'm most proud of are the Pathfinder Society Special #7-99: Through Maelstrom Rift and the fourth volume of the Age of Ashes Adventure Path, Fires of the Haunted City. I'm also the cohost of the twitch stream Arcane Mark along with fellow author Mark Seifter, which streams two new episodes per week at twitch.tv/arcanemark!

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, Oct 19, 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, Oct 19, 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, Oct 20, 1:00-3:00 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, Oct 22, 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, Oct 22, 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! Oct 23, 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, Oct 23, 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, Oct 24, 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!, Oct 24, 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, Oct 25, 1:30 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.

---

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.

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In concert with the team at Paizo we crafted a unique line of special coffees, which embody the spirit of Pathfinder and our wild mountains of Colombia.

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Adventures Ahead,

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The newest Pathfinder release, Lost Omens Pathfinder Society Guide, is hot off the presses, and the character options from this book have now been sanctioned for use in Organized Play! Please see the updates to our ongoing Character Options blog for these newest additions.

A poppet is one of several new options available for your spellcaster’s familiar; Art by Mirco Paganessi

This was an exciting opportunity for the Organized Play and Lost Omens departments to work together in presenting the story of the Pathfinder Society’s adventures, as well as new player options that your Pathfinder can learn as they interact with the leaders and lodges of the Society. Since the options in this book revolve around the Pathfinder Society, it's only natural that many of them are automatically granted out the gate to agents of the Society—that’s you! Have you learned some techniques from the greats, like pirate captain Stella Fane’s signature stance to throw playing cards with as much force as daggers? Or maybe you’ve picked up a special Arcadian wayfinder variant that can flit off to spy or scout?

Some options require a bit more training or specialist knowledge, or are more common at specific lodges. You can gain access to many of these through Chronicle Boons, which you can find by logging into your My Organized Play account and navigating to the “Boons” tab. These boons cost 0 Achievement Points and can be acquired once you’ve completed one or more specific scenarios. This means that as your Pathfinder completes scenarios around Golarion, they’ll naturally gain access to options from the regions and venture-captains that their adventures have taken them to. For instance, if you work with Venture-Captain Bjersig Torrsen out of snowy Iceferry Lodge, you may be able to acquire a pair of magical snowshoes of the long trek. We’ve gone back into some scenarios from Year 1 and created Chronicle Boons to grant access to thematically appropriate items, so check this out and see if there are any you might have!

The wayfinder is a badge of office for Pathfinders, but that doesn’t mean there’s only one kind; Art by Mirco Paganessi

Lastly, the four Pathfinder factions each have their own set of specialist gear that they’ve developed—for instance, the militant and defense-focused Vigilant Seal have created a special alchemical item to disperse cold iron or silver in a mist to drive off monsters. Your character can gain access to these special sets of faction gear by accumulating reputation with those factions and then taking the relevant Game Reward. These, like Chronicle Boons, are a type of reward that costs 0 Achievement Points and can be found in your My Organized Play account, the main difference being that they aren’t tied to specific scenarios. As your character builds reputation with each faction, they’ll be able to gain this specialized equipment.

If you did not see our earlier blog, you can check out Venture-Captain Sigvard Tornkvist’s interview here. We’ll be back next week with previews of our October bounty and scenarios, courtesy of our organized play developer team!

Otherwise, enjoy the book, and remember: Explore! Report! Cooperate!

James Case
Pathfinder Society Developer

Zarta looks at her desk, where a small note sits atop a larger sheaf of papers. She picks up the note cautiously, glancing downward at the signature, then back at the top, a small look of puzzlement on her features.

“Dear Zarta,
Enclosed, please find a copy of an article appearing in the Sothis Star. After my promotion, I requested formal retirement from the Risen Guard. A few weeks later, a reporter from the broadsheet sent word they would like to interview me for an article. I thought you may like a copy for the Grand Archives.

Your esteemed colleague,
Sigvard

As Zarta finishes reading, she retrieves a small clip from the drawer of her desk. Securing the note to the sheaf of papers, she sets the papers on a large stack at the top of her desk and pulls the next page of correspondence towards her.

Illustration of Sigvard by Raf Kayupov, and illustration of the Lodge of the Open Road heraldry by Alex Stone

Published in the Sothis Star, 1 Lamashan 4720.

What’s your full name and title?
Venture-Captain Sigvard Tornkvist the Risen.

How did you become an adventurer?
In my village, tucked away on the border of Molthune and Nirmathas, lived a retired Pathfinder. He would tell stories of his adventures, and I’d share my visions. After sharing visions of a rising tide engulfing a floating city lit by a radiant white stone and of monkeys climbing a black basalt tower, he sponsored my admission to the Pathfinder Society. I trained at the Grand Lodge, then entered active duty as a Pathfinder agent

How did you become a Venture-Captain in the Society?
After defeating the Thorned Monarch, we established the Lodge of the Open Road. Gregaro Voth, being both ancient and tied to the lodge, felt he wasn’t the person to lead. For my contributions to the Society over the years, Eliza offered the position to me. In Voth I found a kindred soul and his experience supports my knowledge of the Society. I think we make a perfect pair.

Did you support any Factions during your adventuring career?
I aided several Factions. First, Osirion. I fell in love with the sandswept valleys and rugged mountainous peaks while reading the ancient tomes during training. I traveled there at the first opportunity, and when I died at the hands of a manticore, the Ruby Prince arranged my return and granted me a position in the Risen Guard. When Amenopheus fell out of favor with the Ruby Prince, I followed Amenopheus to the Scarab Sages as he pursued knowledge of his past. After his removal as leader in favor of Tahonikepsu, I continued to support the Sages. As their mission wrapped up, I focused more on service directly to the Society, helping behind the scenes with research and divinations.

What is some advice you have for the newest Pathfinder recruits?
Don’t discount divination magics. I’ve heard talk that it isn’t a real school of magic, that it’s practitioners are lesser magicians. I cannot count the times my knowledge of a situation allowed my team to effectively handle a situation. In all the years of adventuring, teams I was in lost less than five allies, and of those we beseeched Pharasma to return all but one to life. Even my own death was preventable, if I would have focused and prepared instead of just running into the fray.

Who is the most formidable opponent you’ve dealt with?
Grandmaster Torch. Even my skills didn’t allow me to see his layer upon layer upon layer situation. So much to unpack from his beginnings as a Pathfinder to his later works. In the end, he embodies such pathos that one can’t help but feel for him. I expect it is why I and my fellow Pathfinders allowed him to leave the field alive when we last met.

Who do you see as the Pathfinder Society’s ultimate foe?
Ourselves. In our hubris, we do not prepare. By not preparing, we allow travesty to happen. We knew the Whispering Tyrant would escape, for what prison is secure? But we chose to not keep close enough eye on his doings. We should have known there was corruption in the Decemvirate. Anonymity and the resources of the Society cannot but tempt someone to baser acts. Only in preparation can we hope to defeat any new travails.

Do you have any rituals or habits you perform while adventuring?
I start the day with a cup of tea and a divination ritual. Once I glean a sense of what is to come, I am ready to start my day. The last thing I do before bed is check my crossbow, making sure the string is good and it will work if needed. For while I wield the power of the arcane, nothing can compare to a tidy bolt between the eyes of an enemy.

Do you have a set group you adventure with?
My first assignment was to the Blakros Museum of Absalom. They were having issues with a strange mist. My companions on that journey were Tragar, a dwarven ranger, Aramil, a half-elf alchemist, and Bo-Dean, a Gebbite follower of Asmodeus, and Grinkle, a gnome infiltrator. Unfortunately, Grinkle flew from the top of a ziggurat and retired from Pathfinding shortly afterward. But the rest of us worked well together, so we formed a core group and spent many years wandering together. Eight years later, we settled down and unfortunately grew apart, though I do keep in regular contact with Bo-Dean and sporadic contact with Aramil. I haven’t heard from Tragar in some years. We were planning one final adventure together, but alas, it hasn’t happened.

What do you never leave home without?
My spellbook. It is gorgeous old leather tome with the Osirian scarab on it. My parents commissioned it upon my completion of my Confirmation. It reminds me of them and holds my most important possession. Without it, I would be lost. Though if you asked my companions, it would be my crossbow.

When you’re not working for the Society, how do you spend your time?
Is there such a thing as not working for the Society? It’s been such a part of my life for the past 15 years. I do like to read, and the Society has a number of tomes I haven’t gotten to yet. I also like to putter in the kitchen, something moving to the Open Road Lodge allows more freedom to do. The cooks of the Grand Lodge did not approve when I tried to intrude on their domain, so I retreated quickly. Though they did provide some tasty pastries as consolation for my defeat.

What is your favorite Golarion vacation spot?
Magnimar. I spent several months there some years back, aiding the Venture-Captains Heidmarch. The city displays such beauty and the mysteries left behind by the Runelords. I could spend years diving into the history of it all and not scratch the surface. Plus the weather is more temperate. I do enjoy Osirian history, but it can get a bit hot in Sothis.

What is your favorite delicacy?
Rolled cinnamon cakes with just a touch of sweet drizzle on the top. While plain is good, I prefer mine filled with chopped bits of apple or raisins. A roll and a cup of rich black tea is the perfect way to start a morning. During my travels, I’ve been seeking out regional variations. Some countries swap out the cinnamon for a spice mix of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, others make the cinnamon into a paste before smearing it in the bread. I heard that Vudrans make a similar dish with chili as a component, but I’ve not tried it yet.

What’s your favorite place in the Lodge of the Open Road?
The Gardens, particularly near the roses and floral arches. The Lodge is lush and green, a perfect idyll, manifested by Gregaro from the fabric of the demiplane. I enjoy it when he will join me, as he is a window into the Society, our past, and what we can learn to lead into the future. He has so many stories, and I’m appreciative he shares them with me.

Lodge of the Open Road, by Hazem Ameen

---

Come back later to learn about how to give your Pathfinder character options from the Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide.

Until then – Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

25 Lamashan

I’ve visited observational posts on asteroids less lonely than the Citadel on Aucturn. As I crossed the courtyard today, I saw no one, heard not a soul. Not in the courtyard, nor in the halls that open onto its damp cobblestones, nor again from the towers rising high above me—wet-black and spine-like, helixing and branching—to poke like bony fingers at an ochre sky.

As Aucturn daylight is brief and dim, I tarried before a carapaced rail near the bridge to the Nisk Archives. A spot there overlooks a steep drop to the levels below, where the bases of the towers splay into the ground like the roots of a tree. All below appeared quiet and still and yet not peaceful, conveying nothing like tranquility—more the patience of an ambush predator, of something which stares back.

In total that day, I saw just three people. Two in the Archives: the librarian and a hooded figure slouching through the Stacks, the latter glimpsed for only a second. A bespectacled man muttered nervously to himself in the courtyard as I returned to the Defenestrom dormitories, a tumorous growth sprouting from the side of his neck, bobbing with every syllable.

Everyone here is so cloistered and isolated that you’d never guess more than a hundred thousand souls reside in the Citadel. In quiet moments, however, you can imagine them sealed away—below, above, around—and, as you imagine them, you inevitably imagine they bend their attention toward you, and you scurry faster. Or perhaps I project.

Of my visit to the Archives, there is little to talk about.

They weren’t why I came anyway.

26 Lamashan

I’m told machines are here which purify the air, but I hear nothing and have never seen one. I can’t escape the impression that the towers themselves breathe in the poisonous yellow air and sigh forth oxygen. I wonder what would befall me if, of a sudden, they all chose to hold their breath.

27 Lamashan

When does a series of noises become a song?

Is it a song if it’s arrhythmic?

What if its patterns are so broad, you can listen for hours before those sounds repeat? I once did exactly this, huddled over a receiver high above this planet, twelve and terrified, monitoring signals while my father salvaged the Gjálfrmarr, a ruin of a ship still drifting over Aucturn.

What if the whine of wings, the clucking of proboscises, and telepathic blurtings of orphaned Aklo nouns are unpleasant to hear?

Is it music then?

The processional noises of orocoran monks have all these qualities.

Every day, I sneak from the Archives to witness their cacophonies, to record, to verify, each time with a twinge of guilt; I’m here on fellowship for work I’m not doing. But this may be my only trip to Aucturn. And the song calls me.

A song, I say.

Its patterns repeat every three hours.

Every day the patterns have been the same.

The monks only make this music when lined up before the Seep of the Earth, a fane on the sepulchral ground level of the Citadel.

---

It rained this morning, viscous, jaundiced drops that sizzled on the stone and bone of the towers. Though the air is safe to breathe, the rain is far from safe, and so I found myself navigating the passages and stairwells of the Occular Ward, a task for which neither paper map nor computer records proved entirely helpful, and I soon lost my way.

It was only by blind (and momentarily terrifying) luck that I stumbled into the procession of monks then winding through passages near the Seep. They paid me no heed. Eyes glazed forward. Proboscises twitched. Wings buzzed under robes, a mumbled hum.

Aucturn by Roberto Pitturru

I sat on flagstones and watched.

Shuffle, step, buzz.

A psychic blurt of a word in the Aklo tongue, screamed by a hundred nearby minds: Uulth. And an image entangled within it, a fountain.

Wary of discovery, I’d never been as close to the monks as I was now. Had I been missing psychic imagery all along?

Over three hours, I noted more images.

A stairwell.

An obelisk with wings.

A jagged alley with a stone floor that climbed and fell.

All knotted to blurt-screamed words.

Step, shuffle.

Every step exactly the same length.

---

Nomadic cultures yet to invent writing sometimes employ a memory-palace trick called a songline. They map a song to the geography of their world. Into this song they encode their lore. As they travel, they perform their song, as though the tribe is a needle on a phonograph, each landmark a music cue. And they remember.

---

After the rain stopped, I stayed late at the Archives surrounded by a constellation of city maps that failed to capture the three-dimensional madness of the Citadel. I worked by the glow of a table lantern, the Archives as always an undead space, neither alive with activity nor ever quite closed, the silence blemished by bumps without visible authors.

In time, I found it: the Sarrocian Ward. Sealed off and reportedly forbidden.

Home to the Fountain of Uulth.

The Aeskerian Stairs.

The Winged Obelisk of Sarroco.

One city engineer’s maps were quite precise. I counted thirteen monk-steps from the Fountain of Uulth to the top of the Askerian Stairs. In the song, thirteen proboscian clucks separate the blurting of those landmarks.

Three hours’ mapping produced something like a spiral, a vortex.

Eyes blurred with exhaustion, I returned to the Defenestrom, confident of a breakthrough but with no sense what it meant.

---

Have you received my first few entries, Meera? The silence in place of your response unsettles me. You’ve heard me in my sleep, humming and smacking echoes of what I heard as a child, obsessively cycling through them as though in search of a missing ending. And so I’d hoped you’d understand that my departure is no referendum on our affair. Please reply, even if angry, so I may cross out at least one hypothesis concerning your silence. In notes I’ve not sent, I’ve imagined many.

28 Lamashan

I’m shaking, sheets damp with perspiration.

What the hell was that dream?

29 Lamashan

Finally, a response bearing your signature.

Yet the audio file contains just a laugh, one that does not sound like yours.

I must admit to feeling unsettled. The repeated dream last night doesn’t help.

If, indeed, it was a dream.

I remain in my room. Read the humorist Josadine. All I hear is that laugh.

It sounds like the buzzing of wings.

30 Lamashan

Three nights now. Same dream every time, except—

No, I get ahead of myself. The phenomenon I study already involves psychic imagery. I can no longer ignore the possibility I may be suffering side effects beyond the psychological.

This then must be part of my record:

In the dream, I race through the Citadel. Places I’ve never been, imagery as vivid as the room around me now. Chiaroscuro and shadow. Damp flagstone under bare feet. Odors of rot.

Also, behind me: the leathery flap of wings and click of talons on stone.

When I glance over my shoulder, always by the Fountain, the creature stalking me bends all light to it, everything whorled and distorted, as though terror has its own gravity, its own singularity. Ahead, everything to either side of the avenue directly before me stretches and curves. I try breaking left. My feet slow, and my pursuer gains.

Panicked, resuming the forward path, I stumble down the Aeskerian Stairs, which is as far as I make it the first night.

On the second, the dream ends as I lurch into Myopic Alley.

The third night, I reach the end of the alley. Stand in a puddle that reeks of decay and buzzes with biting things.

There, a closed door waits, plain and patient.

I feel like I’ve been driven here. Why this door?

I refuse to open it. Instead I turn, certain I’ll be torn asunder by the tidal forces of the Beast that Follows.

Then I awaken, feet damp, flesh swelling around a bite on my ankle.

---

I’ll be forced to follow the orocoran path again, when next I dream. I’m sure of it.

I’ll stand before the Door again.

I must plan.

I have no plan.

31 Lamashan

Too terrified to sleep last night. A small blessing.

I tried to find solutions in the Archives, but by afternoon could no longer keep my eyes open as I read.

I hear the song every minute now. It lulls.

Sleep beckons and will not be denied.

---

Consider, Meera—

(Are you there?)

—what if the thing pursuing me wants to stop me from opening the Door?

Perhaps what lies on the other side means it harm.

I think: Let them fight.

It’s the only solution I can think of.

Tonight, I’ll open the Door.

And if all goes well, I will write again.

About the Author

A product of California, Graham Robert Scott now resides in north Texas; a born scofflaw, he owns neither surfboard nor cowboy hat. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Nature, Barrelhouse Online, X-R-A-Y, and Pulp Literature. He tweets semi-regularly at @graythebruce and maintains a blog at hemicyon.wordpress.com.

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.

Our release dates are accelerating in anticipation of the holidays! Just two weeks ago we posted about the New Releases Coming October 2020 and today they are here! Let’s take a look inside the first few pages of our biggest release, the Pathfinder Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide.

Here are a few excerpts:

Introduction

Founded by a loose fellowship of like-minded adventurers, the Pathfinder Society began as a social club for showing off treasures and captivating peers with daring tales. The organization’s grown considerably since then, evolving into a global operation of explorers, historians, and thrill-seekers that number in the thousands, with thousands more support staff in the Society’s employ. In the course of more than four centuries, the Society’s power has grown to the point that its field agents don’t just preserve the past—in many cases they influence the course of history through their deeds and discoveries.

Of course, any misguided adventurer can ransack a temple and claim they’re an archaeologist. But the Pathfinders hold themselves to a much higher standard, ensuring that they document their discoveries, hide partially explored sites to discourage looting, and extract finds in a way that minimizes both damage to the sites and disrespect to the people who lived there. Attaining the skills necessary for this is difficult, with most Pathfinders undergoing three or more years of training at the Grand Lodge, the Society’s headquarters in the metropolis of Absalom. Only after demonstrating their mastery do these initiates achieve full field agent status, joining the Society’s rank-and-file. Unaffiliated yet accomplished explorers who have already surpassed an initiate’s coursework can skip this training, qualifying for membership through their past deeds alone and earning a field commission. No matter their path, a true Pathfinder carries a wayfinder—a magical compass that acts as a badge of office—that guides them to great discoveries.

Field agents travel far and wide, surveying uncharted regions, cataloging languages, recording stories, unraveling eldritch mysteries, discovering points of interest, and recovering the treasures and texts that can preserve the past. Between expeditions, field agents convene at the Society’s official bases of operation, known as Pathfinder lodges. Typically operated by leaders called venture-captains, these lodges provide secure lodging, maps, library access, basic supplies, and a meeting place for other adventurers seeking assistance with their own projects. Most valuable of all, the lodges are invaluable stores of local knowledge, often including detailed reports of unexplored sites and unresolved mysteries just waiting for a skilled and interested agent to

investigate further.

Yet this exchange goes both ways. For all the support and operational intelligence a field agent enjoys, they’re expected to aid the Society in times of need, help nearby lodges as necessary, and report back to the Grand Lodge periodically to share their discoveries—both their written reports and their material treasures. In turn, the Grand Lodge periodically publishes its agents’ greatest findings in the Pathfinder Chronicles, a centuries-old journal of formal travelogues, dashing adventure, and anthropological excellence. This is all the motivation that some Pathfinders need, driving them to seek out bigger and bolder discoveries in the hope of being featured.

Overseeing the entire Society is the Decemvirate, a body of 10 leaders who have maintained anonymity for centuries—at least until recent years, when reforms led one to shed her mask to introduce more openness and help restore organizational trust in these directors. Known as “The Ten,” these figures rarely intervene in the Society’s day-to-day operations, instead serving as judges of errant agents, visionaries who guide the Grand Lodge’s overarching goals, and overseers of the Society’s health and activities. Given the Decemvirate’s distant leadership style, the Pathfinder Society maintains a number of semiofficial factions and fellowships within the organization. Each faction represents a particular passion shared by many field agents, advocates for specific changes in Society policy, or just provides a greater and more intimate sense of community in such a world-spanning operation.

Pathfinder Society Organized Play

Just as the Pathfinder Society travels all over Golarion, so too can you participate in Pathfinder Society adventures anywhere in the world! As part of an organized play campaign, you explore a shared campaign setting with tens of thousands of others, and your actions contribute to the setting’s ongoing stories and events.

Participate in organized play at home, at game stores, in libraries, at conventions, or online. Adventures come in a variety of lengths to accommodate different playing environments. Each adventure grants your characters experience points, treasure, and more. Take your characters and rewards between games and venues freely, continuing the campaign with players from across the world!

Organized play emphasizes community and flexibility, allowing you to meet new friends and play at whatever pace suits you. The format includes a few additional rules that help facilitate a shared world and experience, and there are hundreds of friendly venture-officers ready to help you find games. Find out more at pathfindersociety.club!

Pathfinder Society In Golarion

As the Pathfinder Society is one of the largest adventuring organizations in the Inner Sea, many player characters either know of it or are among its members. For more information on playing a Pathfinder in a campaign, see the organization’s full write-up in Lost Omens Character Guide 106–115.

New backgrounds include archaeologist, pathfinder recruiter, spell seeker, trailblazer, and translator. You will find a wide range of options any adventurer can use, including more gear, feats, spells, locations, magic items, and of course NPCs, timelines, lore, and more lore! And you will also discover inspiring art on nearly every page.

We know people play Pathfinder with our published adventures, in Golarian with their own adventures, and in worlds of their own creation—and that these groups overlap and evolve over time. So this hardcover holds inspiration and crunchy options for us all. It is sure to be an evergreen favorite, bringing together both veteran and new players in the Society for years to come. And it is a great addition to every homebrew player’s collection in creating a richly detailed world-spanning organization!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

STARFINDER FOR ALEXA RETURNS WITH EPISODES FOUR TO SIX!

Nathan Fillion and Laura Bailey are back for the second half of the season, alongside a veteran voice cast, including Kevin Pariseau, Elizabeth Evans, Allyson Johnson, LJ Ganser, and Lauren Fortgang. To celebrate the launch, customers who purchase the Starfinder Beginner Box in-game receive the first episode of the audio adventure free!

The second half of Starfinder is available starting today, featuring three brand-new episodes. The Starfinder skill for Alexa is a multi-part interactive audio adventure game 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. According to Amazon, users have played nearly 2 million minutes of Starfinder, making it one of the most popular Alexa skills this year.

Starfinder features an exceptional voice cast of 13 actors, with casting led by Audible Studios. Nathan Fillion (The Rookie, Castle, and Firefly) and Laura Bailey (The Last of Us Part II) join a cast of veteran voice actors of Audible, including Kevin Pariseau, Elizabeth Evans, Allyson Johnson, LJ Ganser, and Lauren Fortgang.

Paizo and Amazon collaborated to reimagine the roleplaying game for Alexa. The free-to-play pilot episode of Starfinder, “Scoundrels in the Spike,” debuted in December 2019, and episodes 1 to 3 were launched on August 4, 2020, to much fanfare.

For players looking to continue the adventure outside Alexa, the Starfinder Beginner Box can now be purchased from within the skill. With streamlined rules, this deluxe boxed set includes everything needed to explore the futuristic tabletop RPG setting. In celebration of the launch, players who purchase the Beginner Box in-game will receive their first episode free.

The full season of Starfinder is now available in the United States and the United Kingdom on Alexa-enabled devices, 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. Don’t forget that anyone with a mobile device can download the Amazon Alexa app and play the voice-based game, too. The pilot is free to play, and customers can purchase each episode for $1.99 or the full season for $9.99.

Start playing today

Wayne’s new look for the iconic magus, and the brand-new iconic summoner and her dragon eidolon

The Pathfinder Secrets of Magic playtest ends on October 16! That means you have one more week to put the magus and summoner through their paces and fill out the survey. If you haven’t picked up the playtest yet, download it here. The surveys can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SoMClassSurvey to take the main survey, as well as https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SoMOpenResponse if there are details you’d like to add that aren’t addressed in the class survey. These surveys are the main way we can collect data and sort through it, but you can also join the discussion of the classes on the playtest forum.

If you’ve already filled out the survey, playtested with one these classes, or contributed to discussions, thank you so much! Our previous playtests have made a big difference for the final classes, and this one will as well. We appreciate you taking time in your games to improve our future releases!

Logan Bonner
Pathfinder Lead Designer

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, Oct 12, 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, Oct 12, 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, Oct 13, 1:00-3:00 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, Oct 15, 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, Oct 15, 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! Oct 16, 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, Oct 16, 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, Oct 17, 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!, Oct 17, 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, Oct 18, 1:30 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.

---

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.

For those who missed it earlier this week, we have updated the Starfinder FAQ and Errata with errata for the 1st and 2nd printings of the Starfinder Core Rulebook! You can see these errata in full by expanding their dropdown, and they are also fully searchable using the search bar at the top of the page.

Illustration by Leonardo Borazio

These changes exist largely to clarify intent, fix known issues, resolve inconsistencies, and generally improve quality of life for GMs and other players. Some highlights for player characters include cheaper grenades, medicinals, and poisons, while GMs now have guidance on creating gunnery numbers for NPC starships (and better balanced gunnery numbers for many of the sample starships included). Of course, there are a lot of changes to peruse, and we always welcome more questions, comments, and feedback on our Rules Questions forum.

Also note that the changes listed for the 1st and 2nd printings are already incorporated into both the Starfinder Core Rulebook Pocket Edition and the 3rd printing of the Starfinder Core Rulebook. Eagle-eyed readers of these new printings will notice that we also took the opportunity to clean up stray typos and make language more consistent.

Thanks for joining us in our journey to constantly improve Starfinder!

The Starfinder Team

Ambrus Valsin sits down and opens his copy of Absalom’s Anon and Afar broadsheet, scanning it for news of Pathfinder agent activity around the world. An article on the back page catches his eye and he pauses to read.

Art by Riccardo Moscatello

Redacted from an article printed in the 1st Rova 4720 edition of The Serene Mask.
Recently, I had the good fortune to sit down with newly established venture-captain Narsen and ask a few questions about his newest endeavor in the city of Xer, fostering relations between the Pathfinder Society and our beloved nation of Razmiran. His answers, as always, show the glory of Razmir’s blessings on his followers. I encourage my readers to journey to Xer and visit the Lodge for yourself. -Talmat Urndrin

What’s your full name and title?
Narsen, no surname, Mask of the Twelfth Step, Venture-Captain of the Exalted Lodge, Priest of the Living God. For the sake of simplicity and posterity, you may call me simply Venture-Captain Narsen.

How did you become an adventurer?
Adventurer? Me? Oh, I daresay not. I’m simply a scholar and holy man whose service to his god and country requires consorting with a wide array of those who seek knowledge.

How did you become a Venture-Captain in the Society?
I pursued the opportunity myself, petitioning both my superiors within the church and the Pathfinder Society leadership at the Grand Lodge. Fortunately for me, both parties discovered that they had mutual interests and those interests were best served by allowing me to act as the liaison between the Pathfinder Society and Razmiran.

Which School did you train with?
I’m afraid I did not have the opportunity to train at one of the Society’s Schools. I was field commissioned as a reward for my efforts to foster the alliance that allowed my lodge to be created. I have exchanged several letters with the Master of Scrolls, Kreighton Shaine, however. A remarkable man with a fascinating mind; I fancy we might be something resembling friends, though we’ve yet to meet in person.

Did you support any Factions during your adventuring career?
Though I received my commission in the field, I must admit that I’m quite fond of the Grand Archive’s goals and mission. The pursuit and preservation of knowledge has been my own lifelong goal; knowledge, after all, is the power to shape the world in its most basic form.

How do you find that your experience as a priest of Razmir helps you with your job?
Hmmm… I think that perhaps the best way to answer your question is to say that Razmir helps those who help themselves. I receive Razmir’s blessings because I am good at my job, not the other way around.

Who is the most formidable opponent you’ve dealt with?
Oh, Ambrus Valsin, without a doubt. My esteemed superior in the Pathfinder Society received my initial request to open a lodge here with a great deal of skepticism, and I could show you cabinets full of our many correspondences. He is a remarkable intellect and unlike most men who possess such keen minds, he is keenly aware of his own limitations. I daresay I respect him more than any rival, monster, or heretic I have ever had to face.

What is some advice you have for the newest Pathfinder recruits?
Approach the world with an open mind. Every face, every locale, every turn of phrase is a treasure chest containing secrets shaped by generations. Accepting how little you know is the first step in discovering how much the world has to offer.

Who do you see as the Pathfinder Society’s ultimate foe?
Time itself, of course. Each day that passes, the last bearer of a secret that was once widely known passes from the world. A temple built to withstand a millennium sees that time end and crumbles to dust. As an organization that seeks to record the secrets of the world, there is no enemy more capable of thwarting the Society’s goals than time.

What do you never leave home without?
My mask and my wayfinder. I have two allegiances, the first to Razmir and the second to the Pathfinder Society, and I am quite proud of both. I would never deign to be seen without either.

Can you give us a funny story about being a Pathfinder?
I once met a fierce woman who had dedicated her life to Sarenrae. Each time she comes to the Exalted Lodge, she attempts to convince me that I am in need of her goddess’s redemption, and I try to convince her that her zeal and intellect would carry her far in the priesthood of Razmir. One day, she attempted to prove her goddess’s superiority by challenging me to a spell duel. She had apparently come to the obviously false conclusion that Razmir would not grant me magic to rival that given her by her goddess. I acquiesced to her request and gathered witnesses for a formal duel. When the duel began, she attempted to cast her first spell. I commanded her to sneeze in the name of Razmir and she did so, losing her spell. We went through this perhaps half a dozen times before she conceded. I fear she was quite unhappy about how the duel played out, though I must say I found the situation humorous. Power lies not in complexity, but in simplicity, and we should never assume that our beliefs constitute facts. Only the truth is the truth; all else is deceit and conjecture.

What is your favorite Golarion delicacy?
A few months ago, I traveled to Absalom to meet with Ambrus Valsin about some logistical matters. While there, I was introduced to a Vudran baker named Arvya who made the most delicious muffins I have ever tasted. I believe she used saffron and turmeric along with some kinds of seeds and berries, and the taste bordered on the divine. I offered her a job here at the Exalted Lodge but I’m afraid she declined. Apparently, she had already made a quite lucrative arrangement with Ambrus to supply the Grand Lodge with her delicacies while maintaining her business and interests in the city. She also declined to sell me her recipe, though I have Chef Mayar here at the lodge working diligently to unravel it, with full access to all the spices and ingredients I could obtain from the markets in the City at the Center of the World.

If you’re trying to impress someone visiting town, where do you take them?
Why, where else but the Exalted Lodge? A castle built on the bones of history and darker things, forged from the allied fires of Razmiri will and Pathfinder ingenuity. Save for Thronestep itself, there is no place in all of Razmiran as impressive as this hallowed edifice.

What part of your lodge do you most enjoy spending time in?
Our library. As you have no doubt gathered from our conversation, I value almost nothing so much as knowledge, and I daresay there is nowhere within a thousand miles where one can find as much knowledge as in the tomes and scrolls stored therein. Treatises on Razmir’s ascension to godhood, stories gathered from the far corners of the world by Pathfinders of all creeds and persuasion, scrolls retrieved from temples that stood in this region long before the fall of Aroden… I am proud of this collection and avail myself of it whenever I can. I’ve not yet read every piece of writing we have gathered but I certainly intend to do so.

Art by Hazem Ameen

Ambrus finishes reading, folds the broadsheet, then hesitates before adding it to the stack of read papers. He grabs a quill and parchment with which he writes a quick note, then rings the bell on his desk. A gray-robed initiate answers his summons immediately.

“Take this note to the scribes and ask them to send a copy to the quartermaster of every lodge surrounding Lake Encarthan and in the River Kingdoms posthaste. Have the scribes emphasize that finding a copy of the Rova edition of The Serene Mask takes precedence over other tasks. Dismissed!”

The Initiate grabs the note and rushes out the door.

“Oh Narsen,” Ambrus mutters. “What words of yours are they omitting?”

We hope you enjoyed Venture-Captain Narsen’s interview. Read more about Narsen and the Exalted Lodge in the Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide available for pre-order now and releasing October 14th!

We’ll be back next week with more venture-captain goodness as well as using the Pathfinder Society Guide in the Pathfinder Society campaign.

Until then – Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Michael Sayre
Designer

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Shifts change every eight hours in Lim City. During the hour or two linking shifts, the cavern city’s lights seemingly flare even brighter as thousands of workers simultaneously emerge from their places of work, recreation, and rest. Technically no day or night exists here. When I first arrived, I learned to get used to the concept that my existence in this city, much like other places in Apostae, boils down to working and not working. Anyone not at the top of one of the dark elves’ noble houses spends most of their time making credits, and the rest of their time losing what they earn.

I wordlessly join a flock of commuters, mainly dark elves with the smattering of orc-kin and off-worlders, packing into a hover shuttle. The cacophony of thrusters, constant foot traffic, and tired chatter building up and then coming down during these commutes brings a loud peace with it. I adjust my visor and tighten the scarf around my face, concealing the cyan glowing streaks marking my face. I keep my arms wrapped around a large, rectangular case as I park beside a window.

Thanks to a gracious subsidy from the Betterment Council, most inhabitants travel through Lim City using some sort of shuttle service or by taking the covered ramps and paths linking district hubs. Using either is cheap or free, depending on employer agreements with the Council—which most companies have, even the illegal ones—and no one complains about spending less to get around.

I scan the space outside the window as more vehicles fall in line to avoid collisions amid the bustle. We zoom past skyscraper after skyscraper, separated by smaller clusters of buildings demarcated with metallic fences and pseudo-crystalline towers. Our surroundings grow dim as we pass under the shadow of House Zeizerer’s spire. This tower, as well as the other houses’, dwarfs even the most ambitious of the nearby high-rise buildings and spans to the utmost height of the cavern, though tinted glass panes and slate-colored plates block any view into the interior.

Apostae, illustrated by Leon Tukker.

Approaching a commercial district, a sleek hover car catches my attention. Colorful decals—most especially the pattern of rippling red and purple flames—primp the black-painted body of the vehicle, an imported model from a few years back. Many workers strive for this display of wealth, though more importantly, the design matches my contractor’s provided info.

As if on cue, a text from said contractor appears on my burner comm unit: “IS IT DONE?”

I read the message but return my attention to the hover car instead of responding. The shuttle keeps pace with it until the smaller vehicle veers into a parking facility near Meseria Market.

At the next stop, the passengers almost completely abandon the shuttle, and I join them as they scatter into the shopping center. Time frame in mind, I restrain myself from ogling at the Arabani Arms outlet store, where a pair of dark elf guards flaunt the most recent Karkaken models while keeping watch over the premises. Most market establishments host at least a hired muscle or two; would-be customers, who simply come to unwind after a day of painstaking and likely dangerous work, typically pay them little mind.

Compared to other settlements, Lim City has a “generous” token system to pay for utilities—like power and water. Air too, though I never needed it. Everyone in the city can earn a pool of tokens to spend exclusively on those utilities at special rates, accumulated based on hours they work for participating companies. The system gives the average citizen some breathing room, both literal and metaphorical, which often leaves them extra credits to spend each pay day, even after deductions mandated by the Council.

Holo-boards line the walls between stores, giving contrast to the otherwise gray plating. Some advertise new commodities—a pocket decoupler eventually pays for itself. Other boards share favorable news from around the Pact Worlds. One, however, features my current employer, Almieera Zeizerer; this instance, she lends her face to an advert lauding the Betterment Council for recently adding gravity modulation to the token system. How considerate.

After all, we still live on Apostae. Lim City belongs to the dark elves as much as Nightarch does, though arguably with more even stakes as the houses divided the Council. What matters is that they give the drones—their workers—alternate ways to financially trap themselves here. There’s a Meseria Market in every corner of this city, just with different names. The semblance of comfort with their basic living expenses tempts people into spending credits for something nice, rather than something needed. Like some social experiment, the houses create new ways to keep their workers content enough to stay in Lim City and, more importantly, to stay profitable.

At first, I tried playing by these rules, but two shifts each “day” with nothing to actually show for the effort frustrated me to no end. Maybe another life could’ve taken that grind. I refused, especially when looking closely at the numbers. I knew I’d rather get the pay elsewhere than have my “legit” credits go to a pseudo-public subsidiary.

I elbow past a group gawking at the boards, ignoring the flustered swears from behind me. Then, I round the corner into the food court and head straight into a half-empty establishment called Deeplight Eats—an unassuming deli that doubles as one of the Zeizerer’s many fronts in Lim City.

The manager, a half-orc woman called Hevra, greets me. “Hey, Reverb. You here for a…?” Her gaze lingers on my case.

I wave at her. “Yeah. Be back in about an hour. Prep the usual.” I proceed to the backroom. Like digital clockwork, I take the stairs to the rooftop and then climb beyond, outside the frames of the open-air market’s bubble—I’d argue against an artificial bubble being “open air.” I dip into vacuum territory for a few minutes, where I cross multiple buildings before slipping back into the enclosed space at the parking facility’s rooftop.

After double checking my spot, I ensure that the cameras are dead like my contractor promised. Satisfied, I assemble my rifle from the parts case, giving the scope a quick polish before securing it. Then, I survey the area.

After a few minutes, I spot the target: Raxikz Veresvi, recently appointed by Zeizerer Munitions to oversee a chain of outlet stores. Silver hair sleeked back and dressed in a burgundy suit that perfectly wraps around his slender figure, he matches my employer’s description, down to the oversized purple-tinted cufflinks. Supposedly, Veresvi elevated himself by charming a certain company official. The human woman beside him, however, is definitely not Almieera Zeizerer, his supposed flame. With that, I piece together the motive for this contract, though dark elves having fickle—and vengeful—hearts seems hardly surprising.

I line up my sight.

The pair shows no indication of a relation, not even a greedy touch of the hand or an unwarranted smile. Half an hour into surveillance, the lights begin to dim, the rush from the shift change ebbing. Veresvi takes his company to a nearby restaurant. I lose vision for a few minutes, but they reappear at the rooftop. A waiter seats them, hands them their menus, and provides them each a drink. I watch him pull the chair out for her, smiling as he speaks. When he settles in his seat, I aim my crosshairs at his head. A contract is a contract.

I pull the trigger.

His body launches off the seat, but I’m already on the move before it hits the ground. Picking up my rifle and my case, I retrace my way to Deeplight Eats. I head down the staircase but stop midway to disassemble my rifle, returning it to its case.

A communication request pings on my burner. As soon as I accept, a curt, feminine voice states, “Is it done, Reverb?”

“Yes. The target has been eliminated.”

“Your payment has been arranged.” The line cuts off.

I stare at the comm unit before smashing it on a step. I seal my case, dispose of the comm’s remnants, and finally sit down at the deli for my first meal in 24 hours.

Most people come to Lim City for the prospect of stability in survival, even if it means committing to a cycle that traps them on Apostae. All the while they believe the next shift might just lead to prosperity. Then, there are those like me. I stay because I make credits gambling outside the system, so long as politics or pettiness demand someone gets offed—which will be always. I settle for a toasted sandwich now, but unlike the drones, I can look forward to a new hover car after only a few more contracts.

Eventually, I step out of the building, case slung over my back.

It takes me less than a second to notice the glint of the scope from a rooftop.

About the Author

Ianara Natividad is an editor for Paizo by day. She regularly edits and writes for Worldbuilding Magazine while also working as an editor for Swordsfall. Ianara unwinds by playing video games and tabletop campaigns, even running her own games at times. She occasionally braves Twitter at @Imachinate.

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.

When most people hear the name “Pathfinder Society,” they likely associate it with Paizo's real-world organized play program. Yet the Pathfinder Society is a long-established and influential organization within the world of Golarion itself. Explorers from the Society have set foot onto continents basically unknown to the Inner Sea, while the Pathfinder Chronicles have provided evening entertainment for some and inspiration into adventure for others. They have brought distant and long-forgotten sites into the forefront of cultural discussion, and hold some of the most complete libraries on certain subjects as can be found on the planet. Their allies are varied and many, from the crusaders who fought to close the Worldwound in Mendev and who now struggle against the Whispering Tyrant's armies, to the powerful Blakros family of Absalom—which was recently discovered to have gained its riches by sacrificing members of its family to forces in the Shadow Plane. Their enemies are just as disparate, from the exploitative Aspis Consortium to the Peacebuilders of Absalom, who are nothing more than aggravated neighbors who have become collateral damage in the Pathfinders' dealings one too many times.

Left to right, Illustrations by Bryan Sola and Matheus Dorrow Schwartz

Needless to say, the Pathfinder Society has a very complex and storied history.

The goal of Lost Omens Pathfinder Society Guide is to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the ins and outs of this organization, from the twists of its history to its many everyday operations. For those interested in having their characters join the Pathfinder Society, the first two chapters present a detailed look at life in the Society as a whole, from daily routines and yearly holidays to the many branches of training that Pathfinder recruits are expected to familiarize themselves with. Even those adventurers with little interest in the Society might find themselves picking up a useful trick or two from a Pathfinder ally or rival. Might your character learn a bit of the Society's silent Napsu-Sign to quietly communicate danger to allies (or communicate more accessibly to the deaf and mute)? Could one find a weakness-seeking alignment ampoule useful on her adventures?

Even those characters who find their calling elsewhere are likely to encounter one of the Pathfinders' many lodges on their adventures! From the frozen Lands of the Linnorm Kings to the impossible kingdom of Nex, Pathfinder strongholds can be found, harboring dozens of agents as they prepare to explore even more distant locales. These lodges are more than just a welcome spot of reprieve and resupply for the weary hero—no matter how subtle, the works of the local Pathfinder lodge always have an impact on local politics. From the political turmoil that the seemingly ill-fated Exalted Lodge is causing in Razmiran to Starrise Spire's increasingly tenuous claim to one of Mendev's grandest fortifications, the presence of the Pathfinders provides multiple plot hooks for other heroes to become involved in, be they allies, enemies, or entirely disinterested in the Pathfinder Society itself!

Left to right, Illustrations by Sarunas Macijauskas and Carol Azevedo

Finally comes a host of adventuring gear, magic items, and even companions that the Pathfinders commonly use and could provide—but that any hero might desire! From mundane tools such as glass cutters to customized wayfinders and unusual aeon stones, the Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide has many pieces of exciting equipment that PCs can receive (or steal) in their interactions with the Society. Specific Pathfinder teachers can offer lessons in special feats (and who wouldn't want to learn Exploding Death Drop), while society agents might introduce a character to special new familiars such as an aeon wyrd, a wicker poppet, or even an adorable dweomercat cub!

Groups that aren’t part of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign can still have the Pathfinder Society be a part of their campaigns with the help of this book. Groups could include the Pathfinder Society as the core of their campaigns, assign the Society to a supporting role, or even come in direct competition with Pathfinders as rivals. This book is still a great resource for groups not interested in including the Pathfinder Society in their campaigns as the new rules options are broad enough for most adventuring parties to use any time!

The Pathfinder Society is a group built by adventurers, for adventurers. Whether that makes you want to join up or makes you want to run a Society-focused game, the result is sure to make a great story!

Eleanor Ferron
Developer

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, Oct 5, 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, Oct 5, 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, Oct 6, 1:00-3:00 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, Oct 8, 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, Oct 8, 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! Oct 9, 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, Oct 9, 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, Oct 10, 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!, Oct 10, 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, Oct 11, 1:30 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.

Halloween may be hampered by this year, but we will help keep your imagination alive with a plethora of tricks and treats, including adventures that have you holed up in an abandoned guildhall as you wait out a torrential storm, decisions that could affect the future of the galaxy, and a guide to lifelong discovery, friendship, and adventure!

Coming October 14!

Pathfinder Lost Omens

The Age of Lost Omens is the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, extensively detailed in world guides that bring the setting to life with new character options, lore, maps, and more.

Pathfinder Society Guide

The Name of the Game!
Founded over 400 years ago, the Pathfinder Society has witnessed—and involved itself in—some of the most pivotal events for the Inner Sea region and beyond. Throughout it all, Pathfinder agents have held to their iconic adventuring creed: Explore, Report, Cooperate! The Pathfinder Society Guide throws open the gates on one of the biggest adventuring associations on the world of Golarion. Ally with these intrepid scholars, oppose them with the help of their many foes, or join them to seek the heights of fame and glory within the pages of the Pathfinder Chronicles!

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Starfinder Adventure Path

Whether you’re looking for space opera, intrigue, horror, or bug-killing adventures in the stars, Starfinder Adventure Paths can launch you into science-fantasy adventures that will build a lifetime of memories. Each 64-page volume comes with all of the aliens, NPCs, and lore you’ll need to run the game.

Dominion’s End(The Devastation Ark 3 of 3)

All Must Fall
Upon gaining access to the hostile starship known as Ark Prime, the heroes find themselves immersed in propaganda designed to show the might and superiority of the ancient empire that launched the vessel eons ago. Only once they break free of the brainwashing can they fight past robots, holographic constructs, and alien supersoldiers awoken from stasis to confront Ark Prime’s evil AI. In the end, the heroes must decide what to do with hundreds of other sleeping citizens of a formerly dangerous civilization. Their decision could affect the future of the galaxy!

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

• “Dominion’s End,” a Starfinder adventure for 18th-level characters, by Ron Lundeen.
• A catalog of technomagical relics from the ancient sivv civilization, by Larry Wilhelm.
• An archive of high-level alien creatures, including a powerful, transcendent kasatha and a gargantuan deep-sea nightmare, by Sasha Laranoa Harving, Patchen Mortimer, and Ron Lundeen.
• Statistics and deck plans for a massive robot-crewed carrier designed to collect data, by Ryan Gilmore, and a glimpse at a world enclosed by an impenetrable force shield, by Robert G. McCreary

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Pathfinder Adventure Path

Make every game session epic with a series of adventures designed to take your characters from levels 1-20. Released monthly, each 96-page adventure provides Game Masters with the story, NPCs, monsters, magic, and more that they need to make sure every encounter is memorable.

Assault on Hunting Lodge Seven (Agents of Edgewatch 4 of 6)

Unlucky Number Seven
Arresting the third member of the nefarious Twilight Four seemed too easy—until it wasn’t. With the so-called Infector in chains, the Edgewatch agents find themselves and their suspect holed up in an abandoned guildhall as they wait out a torrential storm. To ensure their suspect is held to account for his crimes, the agents must defend Hunting Lodge Seven against mysterious assassins and assailants from both within and without. The Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path continues with “Assault on Hunting Lodge Seven,” a complete adventure for 12th- to 15th-level characters.

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Pathfinder Accessories

From maps and dice to miniatures and pawns, Game Masters and players alike will find must-have essentials to augment their gaming experience.

Pathfinder NPC Battle Cards

Keep all the friends, foes, and bystanders presented in the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide close at hand with this handy collection of 110 reference cards featuring every NPC from that book along with the adjustments to customize them to a variety of ancestries. Each 4 x 6 card is printed on sturdy cardstock and features a beautiful, full‑color image of a Gamemastery Guide character on one side, while the other side provides that character's statistics for quick and easy reference. With each encounter, show the players who their characters are facing while keeping the NPC's abilities at the ready, and watch your games come alive!

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Pathfinder Advanced GM Screen

Accelerate your Game!
Keep the essential rules on hand—and protect your notes and die rolls from players’ eyes—with the Pathfinder Advanced GM Screen! This beautiful four-panel, landscape-style screen features stunning artwork from Wayne Reynolds on the players’ side, while the GM’s side presents key information from the Core Rulebook, Bestiary, and Gamemastery Guide to speed up play.

The Pathfinder Advanced GM Screen gives you the tools you need to keep the game fast and fun: conditions, death and dying rules, tables for setting DCs, baseline numbers and adjustments for creatures and hazards, Victory Point guidelines, and more. Constructed of ultra-high-grade hardcover book stock, this durable screen is perfect for travel, convention play, and repeated regular use.

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Pathfinder Advanced GM Screen (Portrait—Paizo.com Exclusive)

Accelerate your Game!
Keep the essential rules on hand—and protect your notes and die rolls from players’ eyes—with the Pathfinder Advanced GM Screen! This beautiful four-panel, portrait-style screen features stunning artwork from Wayne Reynolds on the players’ side, while the GM’s side presents key information from the Core Rulebook, Bestiary, and Gamemastery Guide to speed up play.

The Pathfinder Advanced GM Screen gives you the tools you need to keep the game fast and fun: conditions, death and dying rules, tables for setting DCs, baseline numbers and adjustments for creatures and hazards, Victory Point guidelines, and more. Constructed of ultra-high-grade hardcover book stock, this durable screen is perfect for travel, convention play, and repeated regular use

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Starfinder Accessories

Looking to take your Starfinder game out of this world? Check out dice, pins, plush, and more that add that extra bit of flair to each game session.

Starfinder Pawns: The Threefold Conspiracy Pawn Collection

The characters, villains, and starships of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path come alive on your tabletop with this collection of more than 100 creature and starship pawns designed for use with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game or any tabletop science fantasy RPG. Printed on sturdy cardstock, each double-sided pawn slots into a size-appropriate plastic base from the Starfinder Pawns Base Assortment, making them easy to mix with traditional metal or plastic miniatures. Starfinder The Threefold Conspiracy Pawn Collection depicts the enemies and allies from all six adventures of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path.

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Pathfinder Maps

Enhance your campaign with beautifully illustrated and detailed pre-made maps! Pathfinder Maps give you a variety of full color, miniature-scale play surfaces that can withstand use and virtually any kind of marker. Releases in the Pathfinder Maps subscription include Flip-Mats (double-sided 24" x 30" gaming mats) and Bigger Flip-Mats (double-sided 27" x 39" gaming mats), as well as Flip-Tiles (themed 6" x 6" map tiles you can rearrange to fit your encounter).

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Pirate Ship

The only thing worse than a pirate ship on your tail on the high seas is an EVEN BIGGER pirate ship! Whether your heroes decide to board the enemy vessel or purchase a sprawling ship of their own, Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Pirate Ship has you covered. Each side of this Flip-Mat features views of an enormous sailing ship and its decks. Don't waste your time sketching when you could be playing. With Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Pirate Ship, you'll be ready next time your players decide not to turn tail and run and meet those pirates head-on!

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Starfinder Maps

Enhance your science-fantasy experience with beautifully illustrated and detailed pre-made maps! Starfinder Flip-Mats give you a variety of full-color, miniature-scale play surfaces that can withstand use and virtually any kind of marker. Why worry about missing the latest and greatest Starfinder map? Subscribe today and have the newest map delivered to your door.

Are you a busy Game Master looking for an adventure you can run your players through in a single session? Pathfinder Society scenarios and quests are the perfect fit for an evening’s worth of adventure.

Starfinder Flip-Tiles: City Starter Set

Stage the scene for epic science fantasy battles with the Starfinder Flip-Tiles: City Starter Set! This boxed collection of 42 durable, double-sided full-color 6 x 6-inch map tiles provides tons of options for futuristic urban encounters, from foot chases through narrow alleys to searching for suspects in cramped cubicle apartments! These exciting new tiles bring countless combinations to your game table!

Suitable for experienced GMs and novices alike, this product fits perfectly into any Game Master's arsenal. Wet, dry, and permanent markers erase from the tiles! These double-sided space station tiles come in convenient packaging for easy storage.

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Coming October 28!

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society is a worldwide fantasy roleplaying campaign using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. Take on the role of an agent of the Pathfinder Society, a legendary league of explorers, archaeologists, and adventurers dedicated to discovering and chronicling the greatest mysteries and wonders of an ancient world.

Shadows and Scarecrows

A Pathfinder Bounty designed for Level 1.
In the shadow-darkened alleys and fields of Nidal, a scarecrow lurks the night,taking people from yards and common areas before disappearing without a trace. A bounty has been posted on this nefarious fiend, but things may be even murkier than the heroes expect in this land of perpetual twilight.
Written by: Jacob W. Michaels

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Balancing the Scales

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-4.
The Sewer Dragons reach out to the Pathfinder Society, concerned about a missing contact. The Pathfinders discover that this is no mere meet and greet, however, as strange events and a mysterious cult become tangled together in a web of mystery.
Written by: Jessica Catalan

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The Crashing Wave

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 3-6.
On an island off the coast of Jalmeray, the Pathfinders are called to action! The Society's friends at the Monastery of Unbreaking Waves are faced with a horde of sea devils seeking to level their recently-rebuilt temple and claim it for themselves. The Pathfinders arrive just as the invasion reaches a crescendo and must fight for their lives if they hope to protect themselves and their allies!
Written by: Dustin Knight

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Starfinder Society

The Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is a worldwide science fantasy campaign that puts you in the role of an agent of the Starfinder Society. The Society is a group of explorers who travel out into the galaxy in search of lost knowledge and technologies, bringing what they learn back with them to share with the people of the Pact Worlds.

Are you a busy Game Master looking for an adventure you can run your players through in a single session? Starfinder Society scenarios are the perfect fit for an evening’s worth of adventure.

Frozen Ambitions: Freeing the Herd

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-4.
A retired Starfinder reaches out to the Society in search of assistance when the local fauna of a moon in Near Space begins to act erratically. The Society dispatches the PCs to investigate and contact the retired Starfinder and their companions. Soon enough it becomes clear that something insidious is at work nearby, and it's up to the PCs to step in and stop it.

Content in Frozen Ambitions is an ongoing series of adventures set in the Year of Exploration's Edge. These lower-level adventures are the perfect starting point for any new Starfinder character, and can be integrated into almost any ongoing campaign with little extra effort. While it is encouraged to begin with this adventure, the adventures in the Frozen Ambitions series can be played in any order.
Written by: Diego Valdez

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Live Adventure Extreme!

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 5-8.
The Starfinder Society has contracts with numerous organizations, but none are perhaps as well known as the Society's ongoing association with undead media mogul known as Zo!. It's that time when the Society must fulfill its end of the contract, this time by dispatching a team of skilled agents to perform impressive combat feats for a new spin-off show: Live Adventure Extreme!
Written by: Scott D. Young

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Pathfinder Adventure Card Society

Pathfinder Adventure Card Society is a worldwide organized play program for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Join a community of active card game players and enjoy hundreds of new scenarios, with new rules written by the team behind the card game.

Warrens Above, Warrens Below

An investigation into the source of rising undead quickly turns into chaos, with violent mercenaries guarding seemingly quiet resting places and a rampaging zombie-drawn carriage. If you survive, you'll have the chance to earn the trust of the stalwart guards who patrol the city's depths and search beneath the streets for answers.

This Pathfinder Adventure Card Society scenario bundle contains an adventure introduction, four scenarios, and proxy cards. These scenarios require the Core Set and the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path.

The scenarios included are:

• Mortuary Mischief
• A Day at the Races
• Unconventional Allies
• What Lies Beneath the City

Mechanical Design By Keith Richmond. Story by Calliope Taylor.

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Tell us about your gaming plans for the month ahead!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

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Now that the dust has settled from our months-long public playtest of Starfinder’s upcoming nanocyte class and mech system, we’d like to leave you with a few final thoughts.

Illustration by Setiawan Lee

First and foremost: THANK YOU! Your thoughtful participation in our surveys, on our forums, and in communities across the internet provided us invaluable feedback for the new class and system. We appreciate it all, from eagle-eyed error-catching to extensive theorycrafting to putting dice to tabletop (virtual or otherwise). It was also great to hear from those of you that are as excited about these new rules options as we are—and we of course look forward to talking more about the book in which they’ll appear in coming days.

Also, we know many of you are looking forward to the final versions of these rules. So are we! We’ve been processing the reams of feedback gathered over the course of the playtest and will be tinkering and rejiggering accordingly as we further refine our vision of what the nanocyte and mech system will look like in their final forms.

For mechs, we’re focusing on streamlining any unwieldy elements and featuring a robust set of options for mech builders. Of course, we’ll also be providing a “character” sheet for you to record your mech’s details. For the nanocyte, look for a shift in the gear array class feature that is simpler to use in play, while still aligning with the spirit of adaptability and flexibility around which the class revolves.

Thank you again for making the Starfinder community an engaging, friendly, and productive place to be!

The Starfinder Team

Last week, we updated the Guide to Organized Play: Pathfinder Society. While we understand the timing of the update was unfortunate given my scheduled absence, we had a perfect storm of available collaborators, convention schedules, staffer movement, and blog slot vacancies. I’m passionate about my role as OPM, but I still need to take a breather and I used a limited opportunity to do so. Today we’re trying to address some of the feedback we received, in particular how to bring existing characters up to date. We plan to continue the conversations as needed, so please keep constructive criticism coming our way.

Schools

All characters with points in Spells, Scrolls, or Swords remove the points and any benefits conferred by their old School training. Then choose one of the five current options - Spells, Scrolls, Swords, Generalist, or Field Commission and apply benefits as outlined in the Year 2 Guide. Characters who choose Field Commission do not apply “extra downtime” retroactively.
Characters with points in Field Commission remove points but have no other changes.

Fame/Boons

Of all the revisions, removing Boons/Fame is the biggest. We’ve gotten feedback for quite a few years that Pathfinder Society is just too convoluted and confusing to get going. After ten years of program adjustments and changes, the team agreed. Many streamlines/improvements came with the Pathfinder (second edition) ruleset and, as GMs of the campaign, organized play needed to lean into those changes. We spent hours discussing what was integral to the Society and what we could trim, and boon slotting/Fame was at the top of the trim list. The biggest reason is that we had a way to move the math/learning curve to the backside and not make it a 10-page section of the Guide. In an ideal world, we would have done this at edition change. Unfortunately, it took Covid, no traveling, and the addition of the OPA for us to have capacity to deep delve into revisions. So we decided to do it before everything settled. There will be some growing pains, but on the other side we should have a system that allows for customization for the players that want it and can be ignored by players who don’t want to engage with the system.

The conversion period has several phases.

• Phase 1: Fame Accrual. As of the start of Year 2 (31 July 2020), scenarios/quests/bounties don’t grant fame. Any chronicles issued between 31 July and 15 September that have Fame awards are grandfathered in as accurate.
• Phase 2: Boon Purchase. As of 31 December 2020, Fame boons can no longer be purchased.
• Phase 3: Game Rewards rollout. Starting 1 October 2020, boons unlocked at the Liked level are available for purchase. We will roll out Admired boons shortly and Revered after that. The delay in rollout allows for OP developers to watch the interaction between the boons and make sure we address any conflicts before adding another level. Goal is to have all boons rolled out by 31 October.
• Phase 4: Conversion. We are finishing a conversion system and will announce the particulars within the next few weeks. We hoped to have it done already, but the perfect storm above also caused issues here.
• Phase 5: New Unlocks. We will continue to monitor the program, including purchases, and may add new options at future points in the campaign.

There are two rules for Game Rewards tied to factions.

1. Purchased Fame boons remain valid for use with the limitations in place when they were purchased (only one Capstone boon, for example).
2. Boons with the same name have the purchase limitations as listed on the Boon tab of My Organized Play and play limitations as listed in the Guide to Organized Play: Pathfinder Society.

Home Region

Each character should choose a location as their home region. This can be as granular as a city or as broad as a nation. The home region opens up language options per page 432 of the Core Rulebook. Other rulebooks that have language options follow the same access rules. Please note that Varki is a choice if the region of origin is Land of the Linnorm Kings. A player can unlock other regional based options through the World Traveler AcP reward.

Other Clarifications

Bounties - These adventures are not part of the Pathfinder Society line of scenarios/quests, but they are produced by the Organized Play team. Thus we are able to auto-sanction them at time of production instead of issuing sanctioning documents. It is our intention that Bounties run at Society events are for PFS legal characters. GMs running Bounties outside of Society credit can choose to run in PFS mode or Campaign mode. We’ll get this language updated in the Guide shortly.

Learning Spells - Some members of the community raised questions about how their cleric and druid characters could use the new spells from the Advanced Player’s Guide. We’re happy to provide a solution! Any prepared spellcaster can use the Learn a Spell activity to learn any common spells they have access to from tutors at the Grand Lodge. This adds no additional material cost beyond the standard cost for the Learn a Spell activity.

If you missed it earlier, check out our Monthly Update blog!

Please visit us again next Thursday for more information on the Organized Play programs!

Until then - Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Associate

OPM Musings

A little over six months ago, I joined the Paizo team as the new (and first!) Organized Play Associate. Those six months have been an adventure. I had a total of eight days in the office before I was suddenly working from home in a different timezone. We went from discussing floor plans for the Sagamore to scrambling to put together our first completely online convention. My poor dice sit neglected in their bag as macros have replaced them (alright, not really, I take them out regularly, I can’t bear to let them sit unrolled).

That paints a bleak picture. Let me brighten it up! I’ve seen how resilient our community can be, as we moved online and kept playing at full force. I’ve seen how hard our Online Region venture-officers worked to welcome the entire world into their realm. I’ve witnessed the passion our players have for our products, passion matched only by the people I work with. Tonya has taken a vacation, which hasn’t happened in far too long, and is also the reason I get to take over this space for the month!

I will be very honest: I love my job. I love coming to work each day and helping to support some talented creatives. I love working with the volunteers and the players, all of them, even you. I think it’s important to remember that gaming is at the heart of what we do. Games are meant to be fun, and we’re all playing this one together. I’m having fun! Let’s keep it going.

Sanctioning

While no new hardcover books came out this month, Lost Omens Pathfinder Society Guide comes out on October 14! We hope you’re all looking forward to it, and we’re aiming to have it sanctioned as soon as possible, ideally on Oct 15th! To let you all We’ll post a blog as well as update the Character Options blog.

By month’s end, we aim to have sanctioning posted for Extinction Curse and the remainder of The Threefold Conspiracy. We’ll post a blog when we add them to the website, so keep an eye out on Thursdays! The team is also currently working through Tyrant’s Grasp and will begin to look at the still unsanctioned APs in the coming weeks.

Chronicle Boons

Many of you have noticed that there are now Chronicle Boons available on the Boons tab of My Organized Play. These Chronicle Boons will replace the boons on the Chronicle sheets you’re used to. They have no cost and can be purchased for any character who qualifies.

If you already have a boon from Season 1 on your chronicle sheet, you don’t need to purchase it again online, though you certainly can if you like! Season 2 scenarios will only list boons online, so those boons, such as the boon for PFS 2-00: The King in Thorns, will need to be purchased.

There is currently a bug where characters with GM credit do not qualify for a scenario’s chronicle boon; we have sent this to tech and are hopeful for a fix very soon. Other feature requests we’ve made include the ability to hide boons that a character does not qualify for, or which they have already purchased.

Guides

Last week, we released the new Guide to Organized Play: Pathfinder Society (second edition) on the Organized Play Foundation’s website. This is a complete update and overhaul. Many sections were trimmed or outright removed, and a number of upgrades were made for ease of use. We discussed some of the changes in our recent blog about our goals for the future, and later today we'll be publishing a blog discussing how to bring your characters in compliance with the new rules.

Our goal is to continue refining the Guide in the coming weeks, based on community feedback. Once the text is finalized, the OPF will create a PDF version for download.

Stars/Novas/Glyphs

Several GMs received their fifth star in the last month. Doing so indicates a commitment to Organized Play, as to achieve this milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios, as well as run a game for a venture-captain. A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach five stars is 650 hours!

Congratulations to:
Patrick Berndt
RC Craigo
Melvin Ngo

For Novas and Glyphs, the online evaluation system is active and GMs should confirm their observer entered their evaluation into the system.

Convention Listing

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	Staff Attendance
Nuke-Con	Omaha, NE	10/2/2020	Online	PFS2 2-00 The King In Thorns
SkålCon Online 2020	Minneapolis, MN	10/9/2020	Online		Tonya, Thurston, Alex
Save Against Fear 2020	Harrisburg, PA	10/9/2020	Online
Friend Con 2020	Bloomington-Normal, IL	10/9/202	Online
Rolling in the Isles	Isles Region	10/11/2020	Online	PFS2 2-00 The King In Thorns
AB-Confusion	Germany/Netherlands	10/16/2020	Online	PFS2 2-00 The King In Thorns SFS 3-00 The Last Bite
Canceled Con	Online	10/23/2020	Online	PFS2 2-00 The King In Thorns SFS 3-00 The Last Bite
G0b10w33n Online	Bloomington, IN	10/29/2020	Online	PFS2 2-00 The King In Thorns SFS 3-00 The Last Bite
Virtual Mepacon 39	Allentown, PA	11/6/2020	Online
Midwest Game Fest Online 2020	Kansas City, MO	11/12/2020	Online	PFS2 2-00 The King In Thorns SFS 3-00 The Last Bite
Lone Star Con	Texas	11/13/2020	Online	SFS 3-00 The Last Bite
MACE 2020	Charlotte, NC	11/27/2020	Hybrid
WolfCon Online '20	Online	11/27/2020	Online	SFS 3-00 The Last Bite

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

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Associate

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager