Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Hello Starfinders!
Earlier this month, we announced Starfinder Society Year 5: Year of Redemption’s Rise. While the previous blog post is packed full of information on the year itself, today we’re focusing on one of the new factions you can expect to see in the Year of Redemption’s Rise: the Cognates! For more information on the Advocates, check out Starfinder Society Faction Preview: The Advocates.

The Cognates

In the aftermath of the Data Scourge, a growing number of Starfinders lost their faith in technology and Guidance, sparking an anti-technological movement that swept through the Starfinder ranks. Led by Royo, and joined by the countless agents whose lives have been altered for the worse by technology, the movement caused heated debate between agents. After First Seeker Ehu Hadif opened a dialogue with Royo and his fellows, the movement solidified into a new minor faction, the Cognates. While some Cognates still aim to eschew technology completely, the faction now focuses on a multi-disciplinary methodology.

Royo, Illustration by Bruno Cesar

Faction Leader: Royo (LN male ysoki). A well-respected member of the Forum, the elected ruling body of the Starfinder Society, Royo is a scholar who believes information and a thorough education should be accessible to everyone, regardless of status, wealth, or connections. Denouncing the impermanence and mutability of digital data, he maintains a massive archive of physical manuscripts and tomes spread across facilities in countless star systems. Royo’s beliefs often lead him into disagreements with the Dataphiles.

Motto: Diversity in knowledge, unity in purpose.

Objectives: Cognates believe technology is but a single tool in a well-stocked toolkit, and that over-reliance on any one discipline, such as the Starfinder Society’s current over-reliance on technology, is close-minded, dangerous, and ineffective. Instead, Cognates focus on a multi-disciplinary approach to innovation, operations, and problem-solving, including natural, magical, and low-tech analog methodologies, to form a balanced and secure foundation for the Society.

Year 5 Goal: The Cognates aim to reduce the Starfinder Society’s dangerous over-reliance on technology, including Guidance, and refocus instead on magical and natural innovations, along with analog and other low-tech solutions.

Illustration by Luis Fernando Mesquita

Boons: Like all our factions, the Cognates have a slate of unique boons available for purchase with Achievement Points by members of the Cognates faction with the appropriate amount of Reputation. Today we’re revealing three of these boons! Note that these boons are not yet final and may change slightly before release.

Multidisciplinary Approach (Social Boon):
The Cognates believe that a multidisciplinary approach to knowledge is fundamental to the future stability of the Starfinder Society, and you have cultivated contacts in a variety of fields of study. When slotting this boon, select either Life Science, Mysticism, or Physical Science. You gain a circumstance bonus to that skill check equal to half your current Cognates Reputation Tier (rounding up).
Other Notes: 5+ Reputation with Cognates
AcP Cost: 4

Prudent Technophobe (Slotless Boon):
You know well the dangers of technology and have trained to protect yourself from technological foes. You gain a +1 insight bonus to AC against attacks from a creature with the technological subtype.
Other Notes: 15+ Reputation with Cognates
AcP Cost: 4

Portable Archive (Slotless Boon):
You maintain a detailed, well-indexed physical archive, such as a book or collection of essays, which you always keep with you and can reference on the fly. During an adventure, when you attempt a skill check to recall knowledge, you can spend 1 Resolve Point to reference your portable archive. If you do so, you roll the skill check twice and keep the higher result. Referencing your portable archive takes 10 minutes.
Other Notes: 25+ Reputation with Cognates
AcP Cost: 4

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek at the upcoming Cognates faction! Come back mid-April when we discuss the Starfinder Society’s third minor faction, the Manifold Host!

Wishing you all the best, Starfinders!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) is once again upon us! TDoV is an annual day (March 31) to celebrate and show support for our transgender and gender-expansive communities. It’s a day of empowerment, celebrating the lives and accomplishments of these communities while raising awareness of the work that is still needed to combat discrimination.

So let’s start with the good news, rare as it might seem sometimes: the last couple of years have shown us that the needle is moving in the right direction. According to Pew Research Center, more than 42% of US adults in 2021 said they know or are friends with a transgender and/or gender-expansive person, an increase from 37% in 2017. Authentic portrayals of transgender and gender-expansive people are increasing in popular culture, and we’re finally starting to see more transgender and gender-expansive politicians elected. There are so many reasons to celebrate our community’s growth and acceptance.

But this newfound visibility has brought ever greater and more serious costs. Being transgender or gender-expansive in 2022 also comes with fear, anger, and uncertainty, as the validity of our existence is under an unprecedented assault. 2022 has already seen over 240 anti-LGBTQI+ bills filed with 34 states, with the overwhelming majority specifically targeting transgender people; this is roughly the same number of anti-LGBTQI+ bills filed over the entirety of 2021. Over the past few years, these bills have mostly focused on limiting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, limiting or preventing transgender athletes’ participation in sports, limiting bathroom access, and preventing the changing or elimination of gender markers on licenses and birth certificates.

Though the sheer number of these bills is already cause for concern, they’re also getting more aggressive. The authors of these bills now seek to completely cut off access to life-saving gender affirming care and criminalize the parents of transgender and gender-expansive youth and the providers of their medical care. Two of the most egregious recent examples of this have been in Texas and Idaho. In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming medical care to their transgender children for potential child abuse. Not to be outdone, a bill passed by the Idaho House of Representatives (HB 675) would make it a felony, punishable by life in prison, not only to provide gender-affirming treatment, but to provide permission for a minor to receive it, or to permit a minor to travel out of state to receive it.

Clearly, the transgender and gender-expansive community is quite visible right now—to the extent that one might ask why we need a specific day for visibility. The answer is simple: people who are questioning their identity or working towards coming out publicly need to see transgender and gender-expansive people who are happy, thriving, and living their best lives. The more we are seen and accepted, the louder our voices can become.

I’m proud to be a visible and publicly transgender person. This month will mark 9 years since I came out as transgender. I was lucky to have a caring family that helped me at each stage of my transition, but even with their unwavering support, I would very likely not have been able to come out and find acceptance with myself if it wasn’t for the courage of other transgender and gender-expansive people showing me that it was OK to be me. I’m alive today because of those people being very loud and very proud about who they are.

So how do we keep transgender and gender-expansive people visible, and how do we counter this recent wave of hate directed at people who only want to live a fulfilling life? To my transgender and gender-expansive friends and colleagues: continue to have the courage to make yourselves as visible as possible. Continue to live your best lives and serve as inspiration for others who are about to embark on that journey, who are struggling in their transitions, or who just need to see someone rocking it to help them find inspiration to get through a tough day. Keep your heads up, be loud and proud of who you are, and keep fighting like hell.

To our allies: don’t get complacent. For those of you who don’t know, aside from TDoV, the other main date the transgender and gender-expansive community observes is November 20: Transgender Day of Remembrance, memorializing those we’ve lost. Before the recent wave of legislation targeting transgender and gender-expansive people, the attempted suicide rate among people who identified as such was around 50%. Unfortunately, with the current attempts to deny gender-affirming care, this number will likely only go up.

So I say this: to hell with keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Don’t wait until you lose a friend or colleague forever before deciding to act. Transgender and gender-expansive people alone can’t win this fight. We need your help in amplifying our voices, educating yourself and others, donating to supportive groups, volunteering, voting out politicians driven by hate and ignorance, and listening and providing love and support to the transgender and gender-expansive people in your lives.

Each of the amazing gains our community has made has been opposed by people who would rather we stay hidden and excluded from society, or increasingly, would simply prefer us dead. These are, and have always been, the stakes. We celebrate (and fight for) Transgender Day of Visibility so there are fewer lives to mourn on Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Maggie Gallagher
Director of People and Culture

Today brings over a dozen new Starfinder and Pathfinder products to spark joy with your family and friends! You’ll find 4 Adventures Paths volumes, 4 standalone adventures of various sizes, and 4 game accessories to enliven play. And check out Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight—our new party game that mixes goblins, pigs, pickles, and fireworks!

Party Game (Print Only)
Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight
Goblin Firework Fight—Promo Card: Advanced Goblin (Fumbus)

Pathfinder Adventures Path Volumes (Print and Digital)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #174: Shadows of the Ancients (Strength of Thousands 6 of 6)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #177: Burning Tundra (Quest for the Frozen Flame 3 of 3)

Starfinder Adventures Path Volumes (Print and Digital)
Starfinder Adventure Path #43: Icebound (Horizons of the Vast 4 of 6)
Starfinder Adventure Path #44: Allies Against the Eye (Horizons of the Vast 5 of 6)

Starfinder Adventures (Digital Only)
Starfinder Bounty #2: Test Flight
Starfinder One-Shot #3: System Takedown

Pathfinder Society Scenarios (Digital Only)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-12: Fury's Toll

Starfinder Society Scenarios (Digital Only)
Starfinder Society Scenario #4-15: Feuding Faiths

Pathfinder Accessories (Print and Digital)
Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Shattered Dungeon

Starfinder Accessories (Print and Digital)
Starfinder Flip-Mat: Casino
Starfinder Flip-Mat: Water World
Starfinder Flip-Tiles: Space Station Corridors Expansion

Start your collection with a subscription today!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Sometimes, a bullet is best.

A gang of outlaws, each with their own grudge against the villains who wronged them, must join forces to get their revenge. In the steam-powered city of Alkenstar, where most business is as orderly as the hands on a clock, these rugged antiheroes will have to go against the grain if they’re to settle their vendettas.

Will the vigilantes have enough firepower to cut a path through Alkenstar’s soot-stained streets? Or will they, like so many others, get swallowed up by the ever-churning gears of the City of Smog?

Inside the Outlaws of Alkenstar Player’s Guide, you’ll find player-friendly, spoiler-free information and tips to help you make a new character perfect for the Outlaws of Alkenstar Adventure Path.

This Player’s Guide contains details and advice about:

• Alkenstar, the City of Smog, including summaries of well-known landmarks, dossiers on the city’s most famous personalities, and special rules for you and your Game Master to consider.
• Your Character, including the backstory of how you came to be an outlaw and the nature of the illicit job for which you’ve just been hired.
• Character Suggestions, including recommendations for alignments, ancestries, classes, languages, skills, and feats well suited to this Adventure Path.
• New backgrounds to inspire your character’s criminal past and the nature of their grudge, including Banished Brighite, Framed in Ferrous Quarter, and Ratted Out Gun Runner.

Start your adventure today!
Download the Outlaws of Alkenstar Player’s Guide

Want to run Outlaws of Alkenstar as a Game Master?
Order Outlaws of Alkenstar: Punks in a Powder Keg.

If your schedule allows, kindly join us for Episode 10 of Paizo LIVE from 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific today, March 25, 2022. Our monthly, 2-hour live Twitch show will feature Paizo staff and guests talking about our upcoming Pathfinder and Starfinder releases. You’ll have a great time exploring the new products with me.

If your schedule prevents you from joining us, you can enjoy the recording next week when we post it to YouTube. In fact, you can catch all the past episodes, including last month when we discussed Pathfinder Book of the Dead, Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight, Organized Play updates, and more!

Now, let’s take an exciting peek into the Adventure Toolbox content from each of the Adventure Path volumes being released this month. This content is special because we endeavor to make it useful to all, whether you play the Adventure Path or not.

Preview art from Pathfinder Adventure Path #174: Shadows of the Ancients (Strength of Thousands 6 of 6) by Luis Salas Lastra.

“Campaign Repercussions
Our story has been long but now is at its end. By the conclusion of the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, the heroes have risen from humble initiates to respected [redacted]. They have traveled far to come back home again and save the Magaambya from [redacted]. They have not only returned [redacted] to the world, but they might also have earned the Magaambya a very powerful protector in the form of the [redacted]. Still, your campaign could have a few loose ends and further opportunities for adventure.”

The Shadows of the Ancients Adventure Toolbox by Saif Ansari, Matt Hardin, Jacob W. Michaels, Brendan Perry, Nathan Reinecke, and Darren Spurrier includes campaign repercussions, and player rules on artifacts of the Magaambya and masks of the Magic Warriors. It also includes creatures like an ooze, a werecreature, and something clockwork and gargantuan.

Preview art from Starfinder Adventure Path #43: Icebound (Horizons of the Vast 4 of 6) by Mark Molnar.

“Adventure Toolbox
I’ve got movement on my scanner! Do you see anything?”
“Keep your voice down. I have eyes on ‘em. I’m in the circulation vent. They’re right beneath me.”
“How many?”
“I dunno. A lot. Looks like they’re headin’ for main operations.”
“What’re we gonna do? Lieutenant? Lieutenant Snyder, do you read?”
—excerpt from internal comms of the Chelish Bosun, discovered derelict in the Vast

The Icebound Adventure Toolbox by BJ Hensley, Jenny Jarzabski, Ron Lundeen, Jess Nevins, Jim Seals, and Jason Tondro includes new high-altitude vehicles and gear, charter updates, Swarmtech items, building the Swarm (making new Swarm creatures) in the Alien Archives, three of which are the size of starships. The Codex of Worlds explores Weydana-5, “the smallest of the planets in the Weydana system, is unusual even by the standards of the most jaded interstellar traveler.”

Preview art from Pathfinder Adventure Path #177: Burning Tundra (Quest for the Frozen Flame 3 of 3) by Loïc Canavaggia.

“Animal Companions Mammoth Lords keep unusual animal companions. Many types of megafauna—including cave bears, daeodons, dire wolves, and smilodons—can be represented by the animal companion rules presented on pages 214 to 217 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook and on pages 144 to 145 of the Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide. The following new types of animal companions supplement those options.”

The Burning Tundra Adventure Toolbox by Jason Tondro includes player rules for animal companions, items, spells and rituals, and the Mammoth Lord archetype. The new creatures include a nymph, an ooze, and a zombie.

Preview art from Starfinder Adventure Path #44: Allies Against the Eye (Horizons of the Vast 5 of 6) by Rustan Curman.

“These draeliks and their ‘Path of Entropy’ business... I don’t claim to understand it. Third eyes, spiritual selves, seeing the future? All seems kind of melodramatic to me.
“On the other hand, they also say the universe’s slowly running out of energy and that, eventually, our great-great-however many great-grandchildren are all going to die cold and lonely. And that? Well, that’s just math.”
—Bron Targeld, New Harmony settler

The Allies Against the Eye Adventure Toolbox by Alexander Augunas, Jeremy Corff, John Godek III, Logan Harper, Jenny Jarzabski, Andrew Mullen, Jess Nevins, Jim Seals, and Jabari Weathers includes charter updates, diplomatic options (new player options including the Zeitgeist mystic connection, Data Broker operative specialization, Commander soldier fighting style, Disobedience vanguard aspect, and new feats and spells), the Eye of Entropy (with another new mystic connection, feats, and an archetype), and more Alien Archives, with creatures sized fine through colossal!

Have questions about upcoming products? Ask them here or save them for the Twitch chat! We’ll see you on later today for Paizo LIVE at twitch.tv/officialpaizo!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks,
Marketing and Media Manager

Hello, Starfinders!

This month we’re diving back into our Year of the Data Scourge metaplot!

Fresh off uncovering the identity of the mysterious architect behind the Data Scourge, the Starfinder Society turns its attention to pinpointing the original source of the Data Scourge virus. Guided by Celita and with the aid of the infamous hacker Noname, the PCs join the Dataphiles in tracing the digital trail. When the team hits a setback, Celita dispatches the PCs to an interfaith religious summit to connect with the representatives of the Church of Triune in attendance. It’s time to network, party, and of course: save the day! Starfinder Society Scenario #4-15: Feuding Faiths is a scenario for levels 5–8 written by Scott D. Young.

Take care!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Melorian Cadusys, artist Nicolas Espinoza

Pathfinders! Are you between the levels of 1 and 4? Are you interested in the Year of Shattered Sanctuaries metaplot? Want to celebrate the grand opening of the Pathfinder Society’s newest lodge? Want to visit the city of Sedeq in Qadira? You’re invited to a party!

This month, in Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-12: Fury’s Toll, a group of Pathfinder agents are dispatched to Sedeq Lodge to participate in the festivities, make new allies, and help the event go smoothly. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Year of Shattered Sanctuaries adventure without someone showing up to cause trouble. Who is this enemy, and what do they want? As always, you’ll have to play to find out!

This scenario continues the story of the prior adventure in this metaplot arc, Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-08: Foundation’s Price. You aren’t required to play the scenarios in order, but it’ll enhance the narrative if you do. You can learn more about our adventure offerings for the Year of Shattered Sanctuaries in the recent Pathfinder Society Year 3 Metaplot Arcs blog.

Fury’s Toll is an adventure for levels 1–4 written by Paizo’s talented editor Solomon St. John. It is part of the Year of Shattered Sanctuaries metaplot and includes an additional faction mission for the Envoy’s Alliance faction.

Casira Bint Meji and Khayrat Al-Maren, both illustrations by Felipe Fornitani

Mike Kimmel
Pathfinder Society Developer

The curtain rises. The set evokes somewhere deep within the dimly-lit-yet-safe-and-sanitary Paizo warehouse. Tall, industrial metal shelves full of pallets and cardboard boxes reach to the high ceiling above with wide corridors stretching to infinity. Some boxes are half open. Perhaps there’s a discarded mask or two on the floor and a forklift partially visible. The time of day is uncertain in the artificial light. The sound of an athletic, yet not truly violent, scuffle is heard from offstage or as a sound cue. With a flash, a small red reptilian figure with a slender, yet well-fed body and long tail appears out of a yellow cloud, smelling of rotten eggs. Enter Boldo.

We meet again my worthy adversary; ‘tis I, Boldo, the Great and Powerful, Descendant of Dragons, Prince of the Kobolds Under the Warehouse, Warehouse Raptor Bane! I see you have discovered one of our secret hoards and are making off with our loot. Well, I am here to tell you your days of plundering our plunder are short, though you are tall. I am confident my forces will retake our ill-gotten gains soon. The power of Creamy Chicken flavored ramen compels us, and we shall overcome you! We are regrouping to hide the treasures again. Soon, you may no longer find ENTIRE DISPLAY SETS OF PATHFINDER BATTLES FROM WIZKIDS AND TOY VAULT PLUSHIES!

Ahem, please excuse me to shouting, I promised myself I would not get overexcited and start monologuing. And yet, here we are.

Meet us on the battlefield and see what you can acquire, you Tools of Abadar!

Exit Boldo in a flash of light and smoke. A maniacal laugh is heard from offstage or as a sound cue as the curtain descends.

Don't Miss the Kobold Hoard Sale While You Still Can!

Goblins and pigs! The Swarm and a dangerous cult! Twisted evil magic and a quest to prove yourself worthy of the title of Mammoth Lord! Pickles and… pickles—this month Paizo’s games have something for everyone. So, let’s talk about it all. Join us for Episode 010 of Paizo LIVE from 4 to 6 p.m. Pacific next Friday, March 25, 2022. Our near-monthly, 2-hour live Twitch show will feature some of the Paizo staff and guests talking about upcoming Pathfinder and Starfinder releases.

Illustration by Kiki Moch Rizky

Illustrations by Kiki Moch Rizky

Goblins have come to the town of Sandpoint, intent upon stealing their fireworks for an upcoming festival. Do you have the goblin grit to pillage your way to victory and emerge from the town with the most fireworks?

Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight is a quick party game of theft and mayhem. Pillage loot from the town or from your fellow goblins but watch out! The other goblins are just as likely to steal from you!

Not only does it have goblins and fireworks, it also has pigs and pickles!

Illustration by Setiawan Lee

The Strength of Thousands Adventure Path reaches its dramatic conclusion with Shadows of the Ancients, a complete adventure for 18th- to 20th-level characters. We will share some story (spoilers) and explore the backmatter like:

TELLING FABLES by Jessica Redekop
Learn how to infuse your adventures with the feel of fables to tell truly remarkable stories!

TINY ADVENTURES by Matt Morris
The greatest vistas for adventure are sometimes right underfoot. Learn how to construct encounters where shrunken heroes must navigate a very large world!

Illustration by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo

A distress beacon from the desolate tundra sends the PCs on a mission into the biting cold.

This Starfinder Adventure Path volume continues the Horizons of the Vast Adventure Path and includes:

• Icebound, a Starfinder adventure for 7th-level characters, by Jason Tondro.
• A look at the Veskarium’s military intelligence agency Directive 9 by Christopher Wasko.
• A toolbox featuring equipment to traverse the upper atmosphere, a catalog of Swarm-based biotech, information on how to create new Swarm components, a collection of creatures ready to ambush the unprepared, and a glimpse at the swirling frozen clouds of an icy gas giant by BJ Hensley, Jenny Jarzabski, Jess Nevins, Jim Seals, and Jason Tondro.
• Statistics and deck plans for a sleek and stylish espionage vessel by Jason Tondro.

Illustration by David Alvarez

The Broken Tusks find sanctuary at last in a mountain settlement, but this peace is destined to be short-lived. The Quest for the Frozen Flame Adventure Path concludes with Burning Tundra, a complete adventure for 8th- to 10th-level characters.

HILLCROSS by Jason Tondro
Mammoth Lords convene at the only major settlement in their realm to trade, gather news, and negotiate peace. Explore the Oasis of the North, Hillcross!

ADVENTURE TOOLBOX AND MORE!
This volume also presents megafauna animal companions and ancestral gear that complements the new Mammoth Lord character archetype, and new prehistoric creatures to befriend or bedevil your players.

Illustration by Rodrigo Gonzalez

A seemingly new player appears in the system… Will the heroes make new allies, or will they try to go it alone?

This Starfinder Adventure Path volume continues the Horizons of the Vast Adventure Path and includes:

• Allies Against the Eye, a Starfinder adventure for 9th-level characters by Jabari Weathers.
• A look at the mysterious cult known as the Order of the Culling Shadow by Kim Frandsen.
• A toolbox featuring options for diplomatic characters, ways to unlock mystic power, a collection of strange creatures, and a glimpse at a world covered in glass by Alexander Augunas, Jeremy Corff, John Godek III, Logan Harper, Jenny Jarzabski, Andrew Mullen, Jess Nevins, Jim Seals, and Jabari Weathers.
• Statistics and deck plans for a stealthy ship used by smugglers, pirates, and worse by Jabari Weathers.

Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

You can catch all the past episodes on YouTube, including last month when we discussed Pathfinder Book of the Dead, Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight, Organized Play updates, and more!

Have questions about upcoming products? Ask them here or save them for the Twitch chat! We’ll see you on Friday, March 25, for Paizo LIVE at twitch.tv/officialpaizo!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks,
Marketing and Media Manager

Like all of you, we at Paizo are watching the unfolding humanitarian and refugee crisis in Ukraine. We know that there are many players, volunteers, and freelancers that are impacted by this event. And we have friends in harm’s way.

We're joining forces with Humble Bundle and other top publishers to support those impacted by the invasion. 100% of the proceeds for the bundle will be given to charities to support the millions of refugees and the ongoing humanitarian needs arising from the conflict.

This bundle supports Razom for Ukraine, International Rescue Committee (IRC), International Medical Corps, and Direct Relief.

Paizo’s contributions to the bundle are the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and the Starfinder Core Rulebook. If you already own the digital copies of these products, please share them with friends and family members who need their own copies.

The family of gamers has always reached across social and geographical boundaries. As much as this crisis is beyond our understanding and expertise, it’s not beyond our capacity to help. We know we are better together. Please join us in helping those in need in Ukraine.

Back the Stand with Ukraine Bundle

Today we’re going to pull back the curtain on our two upcoming multi-table interactive events for the 2022 Paizo Organized Play season. If you’re not familiar, Pathfinder and Starfinder Organized Play release yearly multi-table events that can be played with as few as three tables and well over 150+ tables at the world’s largest events. These are intended to be epic adventures where players can work alongside others to accomplish monumental feats and battle great evils. In the past, these events have often been tied to key story points for Organized Play. Last year, we explored the unique events of a Pathfinder and Starfinder crossover. This year, we’re keeping away from the ongoing metaplots of our Organized Play years and making our multi-table interactive events a bit more standalone, so they can be enjoyed by anyone at any time.

Some of you may notice that the level ranges have dipped down a bit from what we’ve previously offered. There are a few reasons for this. We wanted to make sure these events offered a select level range to make it easier for event organizers to run and to ensure that these can be offered easily as walk-up events for new players at events around the world. Secondly, we’re trying to bridge some of the cognitive load that is required to run these events. As of right now there are effectively four scenarios worth of content in one of these interactives. Adding on additional level ranges makes them exceptionally tricky to slot for events and for GMs to prepare for properly. But worry not, we’ll have more high-level content coming in the future (in addition to the always growing repertoire of sanctioned content). Finally,because the workload on interactives is immense, it takes a lot of time and effort for Paizo’s extremely talented staff of developers, editors, and artists to complete. We want to make sure that these events can still continue without adding undue stress or delays on other projects for our staff, so this change is an important step in achieving that goal.

Starfinder Society #4–99: A Time of Crisis debuts at PaizoCon 2022 and is Organized Play’s first foray into the upcoming Drift Crisis event. In this adventure, a large group of Starfinders heads out on a routine archaeological mission, only to find themselves caught in the first event of the Drift Crisis. To survive the challenges to come, groups of characters from local communities or around the world need to come together and work as a team. In this exciting event, we’ll be giving characters the opportunity to answer, “Where were you during the Drift Crash?”—an event that kicks off the Drift Crisis and can be followed-up in all aspects of the Starfinder setting. Written by veteran author Dennis Muldoon, this interactive is intended for 1st to 6th level characters and is split into level range 1–4 and 3–6 to better help event organizers.

Pathfinder Society #3–98: Expedition into Pallid Peril is set to release in early August with a GenCon 2022 debut. In this multi-table event, the PCs head into the mountain region of Droskar’s Crag in search of the entrance to a fabled lost dwarven city. Prior expeditions involved lone groups of Pathfinders, such as Pathfinder Society #2–19: Enter the Pallid Peak and more recently Pathfinder Society #3–10: Delve the Pallid Depths. This expedition is the largest yet, with several Pathfinder groups set to explore the mountain ruins in hopes of finding the entrance to the lost dwarven city of Raseri Kanton, which is believed to be lost somewhere within the so-called Pallid Peak. The amazingly talented Rigby Bendele has put together a masterpiece adventure for multiple players. This event is intended for 1st to 6th level characters and is split into level range 1–4 and 3–6 to better help event organizers.

That’s all for today’s blog! Look forward to more information on these interactives as we get closer to the big conventions of the year.

Thurston Hillman
Senior Digital Adventures Developer

The crowd in front of the vast chasm surrounding the Starstone Cathedral was slightly larger today than most days. Visitors from all over Golarion stopped by the great pit every day to marvel at the ancient edifice at its center, to dream of the stone hidden away behind its massive walls, lethal traps, and immortal guardians. It was said that the Starstone granted immeasurable power to any who could touch its crystalline surface and pass the final test of spirit. Those who succeeded became gods. Most simply fell to their deaths in the chasm outside and the rare few who made it in the cathedral were usually never heard from again.

Normally, an attempt by one of the “hopeful” would draw a huge crowd of locals and visitors alike, all interested to see if the would-be god could even make it across the chasm. The celebration was usually all in good fun, if you could call someone risking their life for immortality fun, but it could turn unruly in an instant, the mob demanding the poor soul fling themselves into danger. In either case, it was good business for those of us who ran shops in the Ascendant Court, selling sweet treats and chilled wine.

But not today.

Today was the fourth supposedly prophesized moment of ascension for Dyrani, and business was terrible.

Her first attempt was almost a year ago. The Osiriani woman had only been on the Avenue of the Hopeful for a few weeks at that time, and although she didn’t have a large throng of supporters, she still drew a good crowd to hear her tale and see her make the attempt. For over an hour she spoke of her accomplishments, from the moment of her birth under an auspicious sign, to the tremendous thunderstorm that bore down upon her parent’s small home giving her a connection to the rains and floods, the crops, and the land. The people listened to her claims of connection to the harvest and how she could be counted on to bring rain to struggling farmers and ensure a season of plenty for all upon her ascension. They even saw her plant a simple seed into the ground and encourage it to grow, yet when it came time for her to leap, something changed. She looked out at the chasm and declared that it was not the right time.

“The seed was not yet ready to sprout,” she said, adding that once the plant has matured, she would take the test.

Suffice to say, there were more than a few jeers and cries. But for all the disappointment, Dyrani benefitted quite a bit from the show. For the next few months farmers, gardeners, and food merchants began to stop by her rustic stall on the Avenue and pay their respects to her and the growing plant. They say it never hurts to get in early with new gods. Even if only one in a thousand passed the test, those who do are sure to remember any who believed in them from the start. For my part, I sold a lot of harvest breads and orange tea to her faithful.

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi from Absalom, City of Lost Omens

Dyrani even gathered a few devotees to aid in her preparations. She anointed each in a grand ceremony, dubbing them the High Priest of Rains, the High Priestess of Sowing, and the High Priest of Harvest, respectively. They were mostly harmless, wearing ridiculous hats and making pronouncements about the weather. Most would-be-gods attracted a few desperate fools, even when they had nothing to give other than vague promises about the future. The feeling of importance, of belonging was often enough. The avenue was usually cluttered with these supplicants, shouting edicts and making the case for their still-mortal deity. It wasn’t bad for business, really. Most visitors came just to see this spectacle, even if there was no attempt that day. Some of my best days selling sweet pastries have been after a good brawl between the high priests of various would-be faiths. No one wins... except us.

The second attempt was scheduled for later that summer. By this time, Dyrani had amassed a vast crowd of followers, and there was a festival happening in the Grand Bazaar, so the city was swollen with visitors. The Avenue and the Court were packed with people, many of whom began drinking and chanting for Dyrani just after dawn. Her High Priests were there of course, collecting tithes in vast cornucopias made from straw. From the moment I saw them, I knew it was not going to be the day. These hopeful never go through with the test when the coin is flowing freely. There’s still too much to be gained. Later that day, the High Priestess of Sowing pronounced that Dyrani had read the tea leaves (from my stall no less!) and decided that the most auspicious time to take the test would be at the end of the harvest, so that she could prove her worth to all the other gods and make this year a harvest like no other. Fortunately for the harvest deity, another hopeful made the attempt later that afternoon, screaming as he plummeted into the void. I think he wanted to be the god of fish or some such nonsense.

Over the next few months, Dyrani’s appearance changed significantly. Gone were her woolen dresses—now she wore elegant silk embroidered with golden wheat. Her simple grapevine crown was replaced with a wreath of bejeweled golden leaves, and now she carried a massive silver scythe, so that all might know that the goddess of the harvest was near. It had been a good few months for her and her faithful, as the donations came flooding in from visitors and locals alike. But as the end of the harvest drew close, there were signs of stress.

The High Priest of Rains quit one afternoon after a heated debate about the upcoming attempt. I think I saw him making poses at the end of the avenue, worshipping another perpetual hopeful. The High Priestess of Sowing stopped working the street for donations after a local gang stole her cornucopia. Only the High Priest of Harvest remained loyal, doing whatever was asked, but he was a zealot, having lost his entire family to famine some years back. I wouldn’t be surprised if he leapt into the pit after Dyrani on her day.

When harvest finally came, the crowd was sizable, but it was clear most didn’t think Dyrani would actually go through with it. All were disappointed when the sacred plant was revealed. It was withered and brown. Defeated, Dyrani called off the attempt, claiming she had been sabotaged by agents of Urgathoa, who wouldn’t dare let such a powerful deity ascend. The boos were some of the loudest I’ve ever heard. Nearly all her supplicants quit in the following days, stealing her finery and looting her treasury.

It was a hard winter for the would-be goddess. By the spring, it was just her and the High Priest of the Harvest. Their clothes were stained, and the silver scythe had been tarnished.

And that brings us to today. My shop is toward the end of the Avenue, right across from the vast chasm surrounding the Cathedral. The spectacle is all but gone. Dyrani has drawn right up to the edge. There’s no cheering, no chants, just silence and the sound of the wind. As the clouds break, a shaft of sunlight illuminates the young woman. She looks exhausted, as most do after their long journey down the Avenue, but as she looks up into the sun, its warmth shining upon her, she steps out, over nothing…

About The Author

Jason Bulmahn is the Director of Game Design at Paizo. He spends most of his time staring at schedules and math problems, hoping to find a way to ensure that Paizo creates the most fun, engaging games possible. When not working with the design team on the next Pathfinder hard cover, he is at home, working on even more Pathfinder material to share with folks through his personal imprint, Minotaur Games, or streaming video games on twitch.

About Tales of Lost Omens

The Tales of Lost Omens series of web-based flash fiction provides an exciting glimpse into Pathfinder’s Age of Lost Omens setting. Written by some of the most celebrated authors in tie-in gaming fiction and including Paizo’s Pathfinder Tales line of novels and short fiction, the Tales of Lost Omens series promises to explore the characters, deities, history, locations, and organizations of the Pathfinder setting with engaging stories to inspire Game Masters and players alike.

Goblins raid and goblins burn,
We don’t read and never learn,
But goblins love to start a fight,
Torch the town to make it bright!

Fireworks are what we need,
Make Longshanks cry and burn and bleed!
In ash and smoke, big goblins boast,
But we will crown the one with most!

Spring is almost upon us, and that means it’s time for the Licktoad Goblins to go raiding!

This March, Paizo launches Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight, an action-packed party game for 2–4 players.

In Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight, you are a goblin rampaging through the small town of Sandpoint, stealing the fireworks from their upcoming festival and using them to cause all sorts of mayhem and panic. At the end of the game, the goblin with the most fireworks will be crowned winner and the “bestest goblin of the raid!”

The game is played over a number of rounds. Each round, every goblin gets to take one loot token from the town’s treasure pile. These tokens might represent useful tools or valuable treasure, like fireworks, dogslicers (goblin knives), or shields. Unfortunately, the tribe’s most fearsome beast, a pig called Squealy Nord, is also hiding in the treasure, bringing mayhem and chaos to any who draw his token from the pile. You never know what you might get!

The game continues until the town’s pile of loot tokens is empty and the goblin with the most fireworks is declared the winner!

Available for preorder now in the webstore, Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight is the first stand-alone game from Paizo in years, and is slated for a March 30, 2022 release.

PZO5503
Pathfinder Goblin Firework Fight
Price: $29.99

This Humble Bundle sale and charity fundraiser marks the first of a series of bundles to celebrate Paizo's 20th Anniversary! Between Starfinder and two editions of Pathfinder, Paizo has developed a reputation for giving players the ability to craft and customize nearly any character they can imagine. This bundle allows you to kick off the celebration with the game that started it all.

Grab the Pathfinder First Edition Character Options Humble Bundle, today! This bundle, valued at $440, is filled with the digital books that veterans and new players alike need to create heroes and set out on their journey in the legendary Pathfinder First Edition universe, or to continue a journey that never ends! The bundle includes more than three dozen PDFs including the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, Core Rulebook, Advanced Class Guide, Inner Sea Races, and Kobolds of Golarion—along with the physical hardcover of the Inner Sea World Guide at the $35 or more tier. Plus, you choose how much of your purchase supports the National Coalition Against Censorship!

The $5 tier includes PDFs of the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, Player Character Folio, Heroes of the Wild, Heroes of the Streets, Heroes of the High Court, Heroes of the Darklands, and Heroes of Golarion.

For $15, you’ll also get PDFs of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, Advanced Class Guide, Mythic Adventures, Occult Adventures, Dungeoneer's Handbook, Demon Hunter's Handbook, Undead Slayer's Handbook, Mythic Origins, Advanced Class Origins, Occult Origins, and Wilderness Origins!

At the $25 tier, you’ll also get PDFs of Adventurer's Guide, Inner Sea Races, Inner Sea World Guide, Blood of Fiends, Blood of Angels, Blood of the Night, People of the North, Kobolds of Golarion, Blood of the Moon, People of the Sands, Bastards of Golarion, Blood of the Elements, Ranged Tactics Toolbox, Giant Hunter's Handbook, Melee Tactics Toolbox, Monster Summoner's Handbook, Dirty Tactics Toolbox, Weapon Master's Handbook, Armor Master's Handbook, and Magic Tactics Toolbox!

Finally, we’re offering a $35 physical reward tier that includes a hardcover copy of the Inner Sea World Guide delivered right to your door! Fulfillment is handled by Paizo, and you’re responsible for shipping fees. We anticipate that domestic shipping will run in the $6 - $8* range and that international shipping will be in the $25 - $41* range.

* Recipient is responsible for any additional location-based import costs, customs fees, or taxes. Some locations may have VAT or sales tax calculated and applied along with shipping & handling through paizo.com, while others may have to work with their local post office to remit payment. Shipping and handling ranges provided are estimates based on the average costs to a variety of regions. Shipping and handling costs for some locations may be outside the estimated range. You control the shipping destination. You are not required to ship.

Humble Bundles offer great deals and support great causes. Purchasers can decide how much of your donation goes to each participant in the bundle using the Pay What You Want and Contribution Sliders.

Humble Bundle Frequently Asked Questions

Thank you for celebrating 20 years of customization with Paizo and supporting charity!

—The Paizo Team

About The National Coalition Against Censorship

Vision
“We envision an American society that understands, values, defends, and vigorously exercises free expression in a just, egalitarian, diverse, and inclusive democracy.”

Mission
“Every generation of Americans faces new and significant challenges to free expression. For almost 50 years, NCAC has acted as a first responder to protect this freedom, which is both a fundamental human right and a keystone of democracy in the ever-changing American nation. We promote freedom of thought and inquiry and oppose censorship. When controversy occurs, we encourage and facilitate dialogue between divergent voices and perspectives, including those that have historically been silenced.”

Support Charities with the Pathfinder First Edition Character Options Humble Bundle!

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Hello Starfinders!
Earlier this month, we announced Starfinder Society Year 5: Year of Redemption’s Rise. While the previous blog post is packed full of information on the year itself, today we’re focusing on one of the two new factions you can expect to see in the Year of Redemption’s Rise: the Advocates!

The Advocates

When Zigvigix, former leader of the Exo-Guardians, emerged from their recent convalescence to find the Starfinder Society splitting apart at the seams, their heart broke. They had suffered more than most during the Data Scourge, but they still sympathized with those around them: the citizens whose lives were upended or cut short and the Starfinders who felt shame and suspicion. Determined to mend the widening rifts between agents and offer them the support they needed to recover, Ziggy founded a new faction: the Advocates.

Zigvigix, Illustration by Sebastien Rodriguez

Ziggy’s passion, heart, and understanding caused the faction’s ranks to quickly swell. Members of the Advocates are sometimes referred to as “Heartloves” as a nod to both their mission and Ziggy’s favorite band (Strawberry Machine Cake).

Faction Leader: Zigvigix (LG host shirren soldier) was a long-standing member of the Exo-Guardians. They suffered severe injuries prior to the Scoured Stars, which prevented them from taking part in that ill-fated expedition. Despite being overwhelmed with survivor’s guilt, Zigvigix took up leadership of the remaining Exo-Guardians. During the Data Scourge, they were taken prisoner by the Scourge’s perpetrator, who later used the shirren’s cybernetics to infect Guidance with a corrupting virus. Zigvigix tore out their own cybernetic implants to prevent the digital infection from spreading and has only recently recovered from the ordeal. Though Zigvigix admits they have much healing to do, they take comfort in their relationship with Celita, their favorite sugar-pop music, and the support of their colleagues and community.

Motto: We’re here for you!

Year 5 Goal: The Advocates aim to heal the widening rifts between factions, unite the squabbling Starfinder agents into an accepting, loving, and supportive community, and encourage the Starfinder Society to do good throughout the Pact Worlds and beyond.

Illustration by Luis Fernando Mesquita

Boons: Like all our factions, the Advocates have a slate of unique boons available for purchase with Achievement Points by members of the Advocates faction with the appropriate amount of Reputation. Today we’re revealing three of these boons! Note that these boons are not yet final and may change slightly before release.

Loyal Friend (Slotless Boon):
Your strong bonds of friendship help center your thoughts. You gain a +1 morale bonus to saving throws against the confused condition. When you have the confused condition and would be forced to attack an ally, you instead do nothing but babble incoherently.
Requirements: 5+ Reputation with Advocates
AcP Cost: 2

Protector’s Offense (Slotless Boon):
You’ve trained to protect your allies from harm as often as you protect yourself. When you successfully strike a target with a melee attack using a weapon with the block special property and increase your AC against that target, your adjacent allies gain a +1 enhancement bonus to their AC for 1 round against melee attacks from that same target. This bonus only applies as long as they remain adjacent to you.
Requirements: 15+ Reputation with Advocates
AcP Cost: 4

Determined Medic (Slotless Boon):
You’ve trained for innumerable emergency situations and are a capable combat medic in a pinch. Once per adventure as a standard action, you can treat a willing, adjacent creature to remove one of the following conditions: frightened, nauseated, paralyzed, shaken, sickened, or staggered. This doesn’t end the effect that caused the condition, and the target can regain the condition from any source as normal.
Requirements: 25+ Reputation with Advocates
AcP Cost: 4

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek at the upcoming Advocates faction! Come back at the end of the month when we reveal information on the Cognates!

Wishing you all the best, Starfinders! Take care of each other out there.

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Well, here we are again! It’s always such a pleasure. We’re pleased to announce that volunteer signups are now open for Gen Con Indy 2022! Please note these signups are only for the physical event in Indianapolis. Once Gen Con provides us with more information about their timeline for Gen Con Online, we’ll be in touch with volunteer information.

Before you fill out the volunteer form, here is some important information:

• Volunteer applications will be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the Gen Con Organizing Committee. Filling this form out does not guarantee acceptance; you will receive an email with further information from the Gen Con committee.
• Gen Con Indy schedules will be assigned by the committee. You will be asked for your preference of system and level, but you will not necessarily be able to choose the specific scenario(s) you run. The committee’s intention is to assign people to run the same scenario multiple times during the weekend. There is a free-form field at the end of the form to enter specific requests, though there’s no guarantee they will be honored.
• Reward information is listed on the Organized Play Foundation website. GMs who don’t qualify for a badge will still need to purchase one.
• IMPORTANT NOTE FOR 2022: Paizo has a very limited number of rooms for GMs. In the past, we have been able to guarantee all 7-slot GMs will be housed; this is not guaranteed for 2022. Please see this document for more information.
• Volunteers will be accepted on a rolling basis and schedules should be assigned within a week of your application. Once your schedule is assigned and you confirm, you are considered to be committed to attending the event.
• Adventure authors interested in running tables of scenarios they have written should fill out the volunteer form and then follow up by emailing genconleads@gmail.com. Please note we have a limited number of tables and the schedule is fairly locked-in at this stage, but we’ll do our best to get you slotted into your scenario if it’s on the schedule.
• In-person attendees and guests will be required to show proof of vaccination and wear masks. Other venues in the area (such as the hotels) may have less stringent requirements in common areas. Therefore, we will enforce our requirements in Paizo-controlled spaces such as the Sagamore ballroom. Failure to comply may result in your expulsion and a potential ban from future major conventions.
• Any questions about the GM signup process should be sent to the committee at genconleads@gmail.com.

Gen Con Indy Volunteer Form

Major Conventions Planning Server

Anybody interested in volunteering at Gen Con should join the OPF Major Conventions planning server by clicking the image below. Follow the instructions in #welcome to get access to the relevant channels. All important information will be conveyed on this server as well as via email, so please join the server!

Important Dates

Finally, here are some important dates for Gen Con Indy 2022!

• March 10 (Thurs): GM signups open; rooming survey opens
• April 30 (Sat): Soft cutoff for GMs; GMs can still sign up after this date, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be considered for rooming or be able to be scheduled to volunteer beyond a backup GM slot
• May 7 (Sat): Room survey ends, rooms assigned
• May 15 (Sun): Event registration opens for all Gen Con Indy attendees

If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below or on the OPF Major Cons Planning Server. We can’t wait to see you all online and in Indianapolis for Gen Con 2022!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

February was the most active month on Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite since the platforms launched in October, and it’s great to see the communities really starting to come into their own. Pathfinder Second Edition has the most support, as you can see from the high-performing titles listed below, so we here at Paizo encourage creators with an idea for a Starfinder, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, or Pathfinder First Edition product to put it up on the marketplace; now’s the time to capitalize on limited competition!

February Top Performers

Abomination Vaults GMs Guide (P2)
In this book, GMs of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path will find new mini-adventures that connect to the dungeon, new wandering factions, a checklist of all the side quest the campaign offers, and full stat blocks for every single monster on every single level of the megadungeon!

Arcadia Files: Altameda (P2)
Arcadia Files: Altameda details the city of Altameda, a hardy settlement located in the harsh deserts of western Arcadia, presenting a history of the city, information on influential groups and leaders, a gazetteer of Altameda, and a large map of the city, plus six new deities whose worship is common in Altameda.

Champion Reborn: Champion Class Without Alignment (P2)
This take on the champion class allows for champions of all alignments and expands utility for certain feats and class features.

Danger Dossier (SF)
Danger Dossier updates 32 classic Pathfinder monsters to Starfinder, with more than 50 stat blocks, templates to create more creatures, and full color illustrations of everything from alghollthu interlocutors to zomoks.

Fearsome Foes & Fables (P2)
Discover 32 strange and mysterious new creatures through the tales of their deeds and weave them into your own story, with treasures and rewards for any adventurers strong and brave enough to survive the encounter, including spells, magic items, and feats accompanying each creature, and two new ancestries.

Full Metal Pathfinder (P2)
Add a full metal flare to your Pathfinder campaign and transform a character of any class into a full metal alchemist!

Gunsmoke, a Pathfinder 2e Cowboy Expansion (P2)
This supplement provides new options for cowboys and expands the western genre in your Pathfinder Second Edition game.

Kitsune of Golarion (P2)
Kitsune of Golarion unlocks the full potential of the kitsune ancestry, detailing kitsune from every corner of the globe with new heritages and ancestry feats, magic items, two new archetypes, and more.

Kitsune of Golarion: Foxfire Adepts (P2)
Kitsune of Golarion: Foxfire Adepts is an expansion of the character flavor and options introduced in Kitsune of Golarion penned by one of its original authors, only this time focusing on the famed foxfire of this ancestral group.

Kitsune of Golarion: Starspinners (P2)
An archetype expansion for Kitsune of Golarion,, starspinners enhance and fortify their star orb familiars in special shells, launching them across the battlefield like telekinetic cannonballs of doom!

Lost Omens Ancestries: Dragonkin (P2)
Lost Omens Ancestries: Dragonkin presents a new versatile heritage that allows characters to tap into their draconic potential to breathe fire, grow deadly claws, take flight with powerful wings, and more.

Mythic 2e (P2)
This massive 70-page supplement includes 6 mythic paths, and almost 400 mythic feats, features, and abilities updated from Pathfinder First Edition to Second Edition.

The Order of the Vault: A Pathfinder 2e Supplement (P2)
This Pathfinder Second Edition supplement includes lore for a new Hellknight order, the Order of the Vault, including lore, bios for potential NPCs, and specialized gear for Hellknights and Signifiers, as well as some treasures converted from First Edition—like the legendary Sihedron!

Queerfinder Issue 1: Bars of Absalom (P2)
The inaugural issue of the Queerfinder Society's travel magazine, a guide to Golarion from queer creators and allies focused on queer characters and stories!

Advice For Publishers

Over the 5+ months Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite have been live, I’ve noticed some trends in what seems to resonate with the audience, what sells well, and what makes the content creators the most money for their effort and passion. I thought I’d take this opportunity to pass on some advice for the benefit of the entire Infinite community, but specifically for the benefit of those of you who are putting time and efforts into making products for the platforms.

First, a good cover goes a long way. I can’t stress how important even a single image and readable text are on your cover. Even using one of the many monster or NPC illustrations that have been made available on the Paizo Blog over the years, or in the Pathfinder/Starfinder Infinite art packs, seems to have a noticeable effect on sales. If you’re having trouble deciding what image to use, or can’t figure out how to use the templates provided on the Infinite platform, consider reaching out to other community creators for help and advice. Everyone can remember their first attempt, and most folks are happy to pay their knowledge and experience forward (as long as you aren’t expecting them to lay out your entire book.)

Second, proofread your product description! While a picture is worth a thousand words, if one of the few dozen words someone can see before deciding to buy a product is misspelled, that word is an outlier and certainly worth an entire picture unto itself. Run any text the public is going to see by a second set of eyes, even if it’s a significant other, member of your gaming group, or a friend online. It’s easy to overlook our own mistakes, and often something we’ve overlooked a dozen times will be immediately caught by someone on their first readthrough. How you describe your product is as important as the product itself, so give that sales copy one extra read before you post it.

Next, consider making content that specifically supports or builds on new or popular releases, be it additional NPCs or encounters for an Adventure Path, shops and plot hooks for a region or settlement, or a short story set in the leadup to or aftermath of a major event in the setting. It’s been a few months since folks got their hands on Absalom, City of Lost Omens, and we’re going to start promoting Absalom-based content with a special banner and other marketing pushes. Expect similar support for the forthcoming Starfinder Drift Crisis meta-event and hardcover. And eventually, we’d love to have enough content tied to specific APs to break those out into their own content hubs. Such publications have a built-in audience of GMs and players who are already invested in the associated campaigns and can increase your products’ reach and sales.

Finally, don’t undervalue your work. While the options to make your product free or pay what you want exist, far too often publishers fall back on these due to a lack of confidence in their work’s ability to sell at higher prices. Don’t do that! You worked hard on your product and people will give you money for it. My experience has shown that they’ll usually give you another 20-50% more than you think it’s worth. So, if you’re stuck at pricing your product, have some faith in yourself and the quality of your work and set it for $2, $5, whatever, instead of setting that same amount as a suggested price. Products offered for free (or free transactions of pay-what-you-want products) also don’t get counted by the site’s algorithms when determining bestsellers or best-seller badges, so even something getting a lot of downloads isn’t necessarily going to get more attention after if falls off the new releases list.

Other DriveThruRPG News

While not directly Infinite-related, I wanted to also draw attention to other offerings on the DriveThruRPG storefront. Most notably, we’ve now got nearly 20 out-of-print Pathfinder titles available for Print-on-Demand, including all 4 out-of-print volumes of the Shattered Star Adventure Path, The Emerald Spire Superdungeon (in hard- and soft-cover), the Karzoug limited edition cover of Pathfinder AP #1, and both Hollow’s Last Hope and Crown of the Kobold King in their original 3.5 incarnations (look for their Pathfinder Second Edition conversions in the Crown of the Kobold King Anniversary Edition coming later this year). You can also find digital versions of all of the Pathfinder comics from our partners at Dynamite Entertainment and Pathfinder and Starfinder material in other languages from our translation partners like Devir and Ulisses Spiele. Keep your eyes peeled for new Pathfinder Tales short fiction available in eBook format for the first time, coming soon exclusively to DriveThruFiction.

Until next month, Finders, may all your successes be critical successes.

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy

Today, Owlcat Games and META Publishing have launched Inevitable Excess – the first story DLC for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous together with a major free update (patch 1.2).

The Inevitable Excess DLC will take players on new adventures set just before the moment of their greatest triumph: victory over the Worldwound. The new story will require all the hero's high-level abilities and mythic powers to battle with near invincible opponents.

Areelu Vorlesh's experiment was about more than just Golarion and the Abyss. Many powerful entities could not stay away from the war between mortals and demons. Some participated personally, while others observed from afar, asking questions – is this experiment too dangerous for Golarion, for the planes, for the universe? And as the hero of the Fifth Crusade strode toward the inevitable battle with Areelu Vorlesh, the primordial inevitable Valmallos, the keeper of magic, sensed an impending threat to the universe, and turned to the Commander.

• Play a new story that complements the main campaign storyline. Import your character from the main campaign with all their companions, or create a new one to find out what exactly has troubled the keeper of magic.
• At the beginning of the adventure, the character will be high level – with both standard and mythic options available. Fight new mythic opponents who threaten the peace of the planes. Use your entire arsenal of mythic abilities!
• Visit Axis – the birthplace and home of the inevitables, the machine aeons, exploring every corner of this plane and finding a way through a dungeon full of dangers.
• Export achievements to the main campaign. After completing this DLC, new powers will become available to the character in the main campaign right before the official start of the Fifth Crusade.

The DLC is available as a part of the Season Pass, as well as via a standalone purchase on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store for $12.99.

A new patch (1.2) is now available and features over 500 tweaks and fixes for the crusade, various mythic paths, and other aspects of the game. The full list of updates can be found here.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is now available on all major digital storefronts, including Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. It will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with release now slated for early fall 2022.

Explore Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

Convention Season 2022

Last week we announced PaizoCon 2022, a four-day online event with a simultaneous three-day physical event. I can’t wait to see you all online and in Seattle for this year’s convention! We’ve got lots of exciting new products to announce via our online streams, as well as tons of Organized Play games during the weekend. For more information, check out last week’s blog.

If you’re interested in volunteering during the event, please visit this blog and fill out the attached form! We need GMs and volunteers to make the event run, so even if you’re a first-time volunteer, we’d love to have you. The deadline for early GM signups is March 17; signups received after that date might not be cleared in time for game selection.

For those waiting patiently for Gen Con volunteer information, I’m meeting with the Gen Con committee this week to work on putting the final pieces into place. I’m hoping to have volunteer signups open in the next couple of weeks.

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Starfinder Society Year 5

As we announced last week, Year 5 of Starfinder Society is titled “Year of Redemption’s Rise!” We’ll be launching this year’s storyline at PaizoCon 2022, both online and at the physical show, with three brand-new scenarios. Strap in, Starfinders, and get ready for a year like you’ve never seen!

It was also announced that five new species will be made always-available, and three new factions will be opened up to all Starfinders. Information on these changes, as well as any other new rule changes, will be discussed further in a blog prior to PaizoCon focused specifically on these changes. We don’t have any other major program changes planned at this time, but if we change course, we’ll be sure to let you know well before PaizoCon.

Sanctioning

We didn’t have any new material sanctioned this month, mostly because there wasn’t much more material to sanction yet! Behind the scenes, we’re starting to work on Book of the Dead, which I anticipate we’ll have ready for its street date. We’re also working on polishing off sanctioning for the Tyrant’s Grasp AP, the last of our PF1 Adventure Paths to be sanctioned, and we’re looking ahead to Lost Omens Knights of Lastwall, the Quest for the Frozen Flame and Horizons of the Vast APs, and even the Drift Crisis rulebook.

While I have you all here, there were a couple other topics I wanted to touch on.

Retroactive Sanctioning: In the past, there have been questions about how to handle chronicle sheets for adventures that have been sanctioned after a group completes the adventure. Previously the guidance has been that while this is technically illegal, there were ways to skirt the system by having a fake wrap-up session, which is silly and weird, so I’m doing away with that loophole.

Going forward, if an adventure is sanctioned after your group completes it, your GM is absolutely permitted. (and encouraged!) to issue chronicles for all interested players. These chronicles should be applied as if your group had finished the session on the day you receive the chronicle. You couldn’t, for example, retroactively apply it to a character at an earlier date and bump all their future chronicles up in level; this breaks the timestream and makes the Hounds of Tindalos mad.

Updated Sanctioning Documents: Wayyyyy back in August we announced an update to our sanctioning documents and the increase in Reputation that would come along with it. And then, y’know, we had a busy few months. However, I am now pleased to announce that the project has been finished! All sanctioning documents have been fully updated and should reflect the most recent version of the rules. Please let me know if you encounter any issues!

Normally this would be where I’d put GM Recognition, but this month I don’t have any new 5-rank GMs to announce. Instead, I’ll just thank all our GMs, especially those who have volunteered already for PaizoCon and Gen Con. You’re all fantastic and we literally wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

Until next time - Explore! Report! Cooperate! And don’t forget to sign up for PaizoCon!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

There you are, dearie. How’s my favorite customer in the world? Come sit here beneath the comfortable shade between the stalls of the Grand Bazaar. The sunlight is much too withering and revealing. Right here on this bench, sit, sit. Now, isn’t that better?

Ichor slinger from Pathfinder Book of the Dead by Carl Springer.

I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Honestly, these metropolises are just too big sometimes. City at the Center of the World? City at the Center of my Bunion more like!

But where was I? Oh, yes! I’ve been telling all my subscribers; new shipments came in! When? Oh, don’t get me started, shipping dates are so confusing… who needs ‘em, right dearie? Let’s just say they’re coming in the next two to three months… maybe four. But soon, dearie, very soon!

While we’re here, try my Tomb Juice™, it’s delicious! You‘ve no idea just how long it’s been in the family...

The important thing is that I have a few items to preview, just for you, my very best customer! Feast your eyes on what I have in store. You need never again have worry or care, for I will show you something marvelous and rare.

Internal art from Pathfinder Book of the Dead by Mirco Paganessi and Kiki Moch Rizky.

I’ve managed to exhume these beautiful works of art, chapter headers from the Pathfinder Book of the Dead, at no small expense let me tell you! Geb is jealous man and guards his secrets well. Simply sign up for the Pathfinder Rulebook subscription, and it’s all yours!

Look at this exquisite final cover of the Pathfinder Book of the Dead Special Edition Hardcover, dearie. You don’t find faux leather with metallic deboss cover elements and a bound-in ribbon bookmark just anywhere, do you? And a limited edition, too—perfect for the discerning collector like you! Sign up right here: Pathfinder Special Edition Rulebook.

Internal art from Pathfinder Lost Omens Knights of Lastwall by Ainur Salimova.

Well, I don’t like to name drop, but I happen to know the prolific scribe Luis Loza—he’s one of the authors of Pathfinder Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall. Well, he shared this sneak peak of the contents, and you don’t want to miss it. I also know his partner in cri— uh, I mean his Pathfinder Lost Omens coauthor Eleanor Ferron. Her schemes are everywhere in this book too, dearie. They both told me they’d love to see a renewing commitment from you, my best customer, specifically. They make it so easy, don’t they?

Internal art from Starfinder Drift Crisis by Laslo Ludrovan.

I know you have a taste for the latest thing. Well, you’re going to love this because it’s from the future! This image was labeled “After the Crash” from Starfinder Drift Crisis. We should put you down for a Starfinder Roleplaying Game subscription, too. That will be so drift!

What’s drift? Oh dearie, it is an adjective describing something fascinating and weird, likely never seen before or unique. I thought you knew. Moving on.

Cover art from Shadows of the Ancients by Setiawan Lee. Cover art from Burning Tundra by David Alvarez.

All these Adventures Path volumes… I’m afraid the port has made a tangled mess of the order. Pathfinder Adventure Path: Shadows of the Ancients (Strength of Thousands 6 of 6) is finally here after months of delay. But good things come to those wait, said the anadi to the sprite.

Cover art from Icebound and Allies Against the Eye by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo.

But wait, there’s yet more! Pathfinder Adventure Path: Burning Tundra (Quest for the Frozen Flame 3 of 3), Starfinder Adventure Path volumes Icebound (Horizons of the Vast 4 of 6), Allies Against the Eye (Horizons of the Vast 5 of 6), and The Culling Shadow (Horizons of the Vast 6 of 6) are all inbound. Meanwhile, Pathfinder Adventure Path #178: Punks in a Powderkeg (Outlaws of Alkenstar 1 of 3) and Cradle of Quartz (Outlaws of Alkenstar 2 of 3) are closer than you think!

So, let’s just sign you up for them all, shall we? That way you won’t miss a thing! Find them here: Starfinder Adventure Path, and here: Pathfinder Adventure Path. A simple and elegant transaction—a bargain, just like me, dearie.

Well, all this talk of shadows and culling has me famished. So, I won’t take any more of your time. Just… before I go… don’t forget the advantage of having multiple subscriptions. Here’s a handy list: Pathfinder Society, Starfinder Society, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Accessories, Pathfinder Maps, and Starfinder Maps. Why not get them all? You deserve it, dearie.

What’s that? Something not on the list? More Tomb Juice? Ah, of course you can have some… You also want more subscriptions? Well, I’ve heard whispers of changes, dearie. Exciting new options. I’ll talk to my sources. Can’t make any promises, mind you, but I aim to please my best customer!

Subscribe Today!

Catch up on previous chapters of Wreckers Reunion here and here.

SUPPLY RUN

Droven could hardly believe the twists and turns the last few days had taken. Month after month, season after season, he’d traveled the continent of Arcadia, searching for passage back to Absalom, an ocean away in the region known as the Inner Sea. He had spent more than a few days in the last weeks carefully examining the soles of his metal-reinforced boots. Long ago, he’d promised one of the first friends he’d made in Arcadia, an old half-orc named Darv, that if he still hadn’t found a way back to Absalom by the time the soles of wore thin, he’d return to Darv’s workshop to begin a new life.

Instead, Droven had inadvertently aided one of his closest friends from the Inner Sea, the goblin alchemist Fumbus, in a daring rescue against a gang of smugglers, the Wreckers. Fumbus’s rescued friends were a powerful old wizard named Ezren, a wise young cleric named Kyra, a cunning elf named Merisiel, and a valiant warrior called Valeros.

Droven had at first been afraid to tell the others they were as stranded as he was, but after some discussion the group realized that they had almost everything they needed to make the journey back to Absalom. Ezren and Kyra’s magic could calm the worst of the storms and turn the currents in their favor, while Valeros’s strength and Merisiel’s cunning, combined with Droven’s and Fumbus’s ingenuity, would allow them to build a sturdy enough sea craft from the salvage of the Wreckers’ victims.

The biggest problem was the lack of any known eastward currents bridging the Arcadian Ocean to the continents of Avistan and Garund. Droven had heard tales of the legendary current carrying Ulfen vikings to Port Valen in northern Arcadia and had even seen the maps of the sea routes between Arcadia and Tian Xia, which shared a northern land bridge with Avistan. Frustratingly, the northern route was only one way and the western route presented unique geographic barriers Droven had never been able to surmount. Making the trek in either direction, even accompanied by a group of stalwart adventurers, was a fraught journey that would take months at least.

Instead, Droven had a plan that this group’s unique talents were particularly suited for. While Valeros and company assembled a ship based on Droven’s blueprints, the half-orc, his construct companion Whirp, and Fumbus would venture into the abandoned lair of a reckless alchemist in the nearby jungles to retrieve the materials necessary to assemble an alchemical engine capable of propelling their craft across the Arcadian Ocean, regardless of winds or currents.

Droven had marked the laboratory the first time he’d passed along this stretch of coast over a year ago, though he’d been unwilling to delve too deep after encountering various alchemical traps. But now, with the possibility of home so close and a trusted companion at his side, Droven felt it worth the risk.

---

“Droven!”

“Yes, Fumbus?”

“Ice?”

“I’m sorry my friend, I’m afraid I don’t take your meanin–GAAH!”

Droven and Fumbus had bypassed a variety of traps and strange monsters to the facility’s primary laboratory. Things had been going remarkably well, with inventor, construct, and alchemist each uniquely suited to disable the dangers laid by the paranoid alchemist who’d built the place. Droven blamed himself for their current predicament, trapped in a sealed room with an angry ooze climbing out of a broken glass tank.

Shaking the sting of an acidic tendril from his non-mechanical arm, Droven yelled for Whirp. “Defensive formation zero zero three: barricade!”

Responding to his maker’s command, Whirp leapt between his allies and the approaching ooze, deploying thin, folded metal sheets within his chassis to create a temporary barricade. As Droven ducked behind it, Fumbus cleared his throat.

Whirp provides cover for Droven and Fumbus in this illustration by Will O’Brien from Pathfinder Guns & Gears

“Miss you, Droven” Fumbus said, ducking an acidic pseudopod and swirling a blue cannister around in his hand. “Ice?”

Droven’s good eye widened in surprise as he finally realized what the goblin was asking. “Yes, Fumbus! As much as you’ve got!”

Fumbus hurled the cannister at the ooze, freezing a portion of its body but barely slowing its advance. As Droven fired a crossbow bolt into the ooze’s mass only to watch it dissolve, he realized Fumbus’s concoctions might be their only salvation. “More ice, Fumbus, quickly!”

Fumbus’s right hand snatched an empty glass vial from one of his pouches while his left darted from his tiled necklace to his pouches, and up… into his mouth. Furiously chewing each component before spewing the macerated remains into his vial, Fumbus quickly created a second vial of liquid ice and launched it at the encroaching ooze before repeating the process.

Droven took careful aim at a frozen section of ooze before firing his crossbow. As the icy chunk shattered into pieces, Droven was relieved to see that the ooze seemed to shrink, its regeneration stymied by the freezing cold. As Fumbus threw yet another liquid ice bomb, Droven glanced at his friend and suppressed a worried frown. Fumbus smiled at Droven, but the goblin’s saliva was frozen to his chin in icicles of drool, and his green skin had taken on a distinctly bluish hue. Worse, the goblin’s teeth chattered furiously, slowing down the liquid ice process. Seeing Fumbus’s predicament, Droven quickly removed a few mechanical components from his backpack. He’d been working on something the local Arcadians called a “cryomister,” a device intended to release a controlled stream of freezing liquid. Droven had been struggling to complete it due to his lack of familiarity with Arcadian alchemy, but Fumbus possessed exactly what Droven lacked.

“Fumbus! Pour everything you’ve got into this!”

Fumbus snatched up the proffered device and spewed all the components in his mouth directly into its ammunition cartridge. Trying hard not to think about what had just happened, Droven took the device back, activated it, and tossed it at the broken glass tank from which the ooze poured. As the cryomister sank into the acidic flow, chilling fog poured forth, solidifying the ooze until only a blue-green statue remained.

Wiping shards of frozen drool from his chin, Fumbus wasted no time in sacking the lab, quickly identifying a variety of ingredients and reagents capable of fueling the alchemical engine Droven intended to build. Struggling to his feet, Droven leaned on Whirp’s body. His good arm was burned by acid, and he felt the weight of his prosthetic limb keenly as he struggled to stand. The two friends and friendly construct quickly gathered the materials they would need to assemble their engine.

“Droven?”

“Yes, Fumbus?”

“Oozes terrible.”

“Yeah, Fumbus. They’re pretty bad.”

About the Author

Michael Sayre is a designer at Paizo who previously worked on the Organized Play team. He’s also a prolific freelancer, having contributed to numerous Paizo books and publications from other publishers, such as Lost Spheres Publishing, Rogue Genius Games, and many other companies in support of the Pathfinder RPG and other table-top game systems.

Fred Van Lente is a New York Times bestselling writer of comics, prose, and gaming, including the Pathfinder: Fumbus one-shot successfully Kickstarted in 2021. His short story “Neversleeps” was shortlisted for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. In addition to playing Pathfinder 2e, he’s currently running Call of Cthulhu 7e and Fallout 2d20 campaigns in Brooklyn, NY. He’s on Twitter and Instagram as @fredvanlente and you can sign up for updates on his upcoming projects at www.fredvanlente.com.

About Iconic Encounters

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