A New Way to Play the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Before we get into this week's blog, we have a couple of things we want to share with you!

First, we have a massive Pathfinder Adventure Card Game sale running through April 30. You can get complete PACG Adventure Paths—the Base Set, all 5 additional Adventure Decks, and the Character Add-On Deck—for the price of the Base Set alone. Choose the Skull & Shackles Collection, the Wrath of the Righteous Collection, and the Mummy's Mask Collection! You'll also find the first 19 Class Decks (up through Warpriest) on sale for 50% off through the end of the month!

Next, let's spill the beans on this year's Free RPG Day promo character, Nok-Nok:

Nok-Nok comes to us from Pathfinder: Kingmaker, the party-based, single-player, isometric computer RPG coming this summer from Owlcat Games! (Don't miss their new trailer here!)

Nok-Nok's PACG incarnation will initially be available for free at stores participating in Free RPG Day on June 16. We will then send him free to subscribers of the main Pathfinder Adventure Card Game line alongside the Ultimate Wilderness Add-On Deck in July. After that, he'll be available for sale on paizo.com and at our Gen Con booth in August.

Now, I'll cede the floor to Tyler "Cartmanbeck" Beck, our new Venture-Captain for Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Online Play!

Tyler: It's hard to believe that the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was released almost five years ago now. The game has evolved through four full base sets and dozens of character and add-on decks, and has been the focus of a successful organized play campaign.

Speaking of that organized play campaign, in the recent 5.0 release of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild Guide, the option was added for online play. I know a few people have been asking things like "What?" and "How?" and "Really?" Thus far, the answer to all of those questions has been "Let's take it slow." So to that end, the Card Guild has become a (relatively small) part of the OutPost play-by-post gaming convention, currently being held right here on the Paizo forums. We've currently got 11 tables running currently, with several box runners (BRs) each running one or more tables of PACG newbies and veterans alike. I'd like to introduce you to two BRs who will tell you a bit about how things work.

Ray (redeux on the forums): Most of my experiences so far have been as a player at one of the play-by-post tables. It's been a blast! Five of us has been working through Season of the Runelords, and over the course of several months we've progressed all the way to tier 5. I'm fortunate enough to also have a local group that gets together for organized play, but what I like about the online play-by-post is that it can be done from anywhere, and it takes much less time out of my day spread throughout a week rather than all in one afternoon. In that regard, it has been super convenient to get a little dose of PACG on a regular basis without straining my schedule. The format also makes it easy to back to look back and check what happened, like that time Kyra unleashed a fire attack with her sword, making sure her fire-loving goblin teammate Reta was nowhere in sight so she wouldn't get any heated ideas.

With the OutPost event, we have been working hard to expose more people to the play-by-post format for PACG. I'm currently running two tables for the event, and I have players from the US, UK, Asia, and Australia, which shows that the game can be played globally. Some of my players are fairly experienced with the ACG, other players have a lot of experience with the RPG but little ACG, and a few started with little to no experience with either. We all work together to help everyone learn and overcome the scenarios!

Let's tackle how it all works. As Tyler mentioned, one person runs the box. This is currently is being handled through a database that contains the card information for each scenario. The database is able to build locations, shuffle them, move cards around, and manage just about anything you need to do during a normal ACG scenario. The scenario is then posted on the campaign page, looking something like this:

The scenario post has all of the "During this Adventure" and "During this Scenario" text in it, as well as turn info, blessing deck info, and location/location deck info. All of the cards in the location decks are hidden through spoilers. This allows players to explore multiple times in their turn without waiting for a new card to be presented to them.

Players use a Deck Handler spreadsheet on Google Docs that handles drawing cards from your deck, discarding, recharging, burying, shuffling, etc. (Tyler provides some instruction on how to use it here. The Deck Handler includes only card names, so you still need to have a physical deck to reference the card text. It provides an easy way to let everyone know what cards you have in hand, and what blessings or other cards you are willing to let people use on their turns. When you finish your turn, it gives you templated text to paste into the forum to communicate your decisions.

Mark (MorkXII on the forums): During last year's online runthrough of the Cosmic Captive PFS Special, I was able to join one of two ACG tables run during the event and had an amazing time, and I couldn't wait to do it again. When I missed the chance to play in a Season of the Goblins game> that Tyler started in November, I asked him if I could run my own table. He agreed, so I recruited four players (and a fifth joined later) to play through Season of the Runelords. That campaign is still going: the group has finished 23 scenarios in roughly 100 days, and we're on track to finish the entire Adventure Path by the end of OutPost on April 30.

Playing the ACG by forum post is obviously not the same as playing in-person: the pace is much slower, and sometimes it's tricky to collaborate on group efforts, such as who's handling temporary closes and multi-check encounters, and who's supplying all the blessings. Some rules and scenarios are a little tougher to implement for forum play and take an extra bit of effort or creative thinking (I'm looking at you, Adventure #2-3C!). But overall the game still works well in this format, and the slower pace also means you spend more time getting to know the group than you would around a table. Early in our Season of the Runelords game, we moved most of our game discussion to a Google Hangouts chat to allow for more real-time discussion. This made it easier to plan out those group efforts, but also enabled more off-topic and personal discussion, and it's been wonderful getting to know some other Pathfinder fans from around the world.

The slower pace of play also means that everyone has more time to take their turns, and many players put in effort to go beyond just listing what cards they encounter and play. The roleplaying and storytelling are my favourite part of playing a game online because it's so entertaining to read! When Reta fell into a giant pit and dragged all her goblin friends along with her, it made for a series of very fun posts. And a different Reta seemed very pleased with herself when she clubbed the villain over the head with a Lamia henchman. (At least she didn't offer anyone any of her... questionable pickles that time).

And playing online, you still get the same exciting moments that you always get from Pathfinder. Who doesn't love clearing out an entire location deck in a single turn? Or blasting away the villain on a last-ditch effort with just one blessing left in the deck?

Tyler: We have a vibrant community of players on the Paizo play-by-post forums, and I'm excited that we've been able to add Pathfinder Adventure Card Game play to that community. As OutPost winds down at month end, watch for new developments on the forums and more ways to play PACG in play-by-post form yourselves!

Vic Wertz
Chief Technology Officer

Making the Most of Character Unlocks

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Ever since the first Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Decks were released, you have been able to use Adventure Path characters of the same class as your deck in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild. This has been a great way to add more variety to PFSACG character options (in case the 88 Class Deck characters aren't already enough for you!).

The latest version of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide extends this to work with decks that contain characters of more than one class. For example, since the Pathfinder Tales Character Deck contains a wizard, you can use Ezren with that deck. And certain PFSACG adventure rewards unlock the ability to use specific characters with specific decks.

So, I decided to make a list of all the additional characters that you can use with each deck, including those you can only unlock with Chronicle sheets or boons. Every Class and Character deck has at least one additional playable character!

• Alchemist Class Deck: Damiel (Skull & Shackles), Damiel (Mummy's Mask), Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 4
• Barbarian Class Deck: Amiri (Rise of the Runelords)
• Bard Class Deck: Lem (Rise of the Runelords), Lem (Skull & Shackles), Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 2
• Cleric Class Deck: Kyra (Rise of the Runelords), Kyra (Wrath of the Righteous), Drelm (Mummy's Mask)
• Druid Class Deck: Lini (Rise of the Runelords), Lini (Skull & Shackles), Channa Ti (Mummy's Mask)
• Fighter Class Deck: Valeros (Rise of the Runelords), Valeros (Skull & Shackles)
• Goblins Burn! Character Deck: Tup (Rise of the Runelords Promo), Reepazo (Mummy's Mask Promo)
• Goblins Fight! Character Deck: Ranzak (Skull & Shackles Promo), Ekkie (Wrath of the Righteous Promo)
• Gunslinger Class Deck: Lirianne (Skull & Shackles)
• Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 1: Kyra (Rise of the Runelords), Kyra (Wrath of the Righteous), Drelm (Mummy's Mask)
• Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 2: Ezren (Rise of the Runelords), Ezren (Mummy's Mask), Imrijka (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Hunter Class Deck: Adowyn (Wrath of the Righteous), Harsk (Rise of the Runelords)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Harsk (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Harsk (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Agna (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Arabundi (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4, Wrathack (Ranger Class Deck)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 4
• Inquisitor Class Deck: Imrijka (Wrath of the Righteous), Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of the Runelords Adventure 6, Zadim (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 1
• Magus Class Deck: Seltyiel (Skull & Shackles), Ahmotep (Mummy's Mask), Crowe (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 1, Mavaro (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 6
• Monk Class Deck: Sajan (Rise of the Runelords)
• Occult Adventures Character Deck 1: Estra (Mummy's Mask)
• Occult Adventures Character Deck 2: Mavaro (Mummy's Mask), Yoon (Mummy's Mask)
• Oracle Class Deck: Alahazra (Skull & Shackles), Alahazra (Mummy's Mask), Shardra (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of the Runelords Adventure 3, Estra (Mummy's Mask)—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 5
• Paladin Class Deck: Seelah (Rise of the Runelords), Seelah (Wrath of the Righteous), Alain (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of the Righteous Adventure 6
• Pathfinder Tales Character Deck: Ezren (Rise of the Runelords), Merisiel (Rise of the Runelords), Seoni (Rise of the Runelords), Merisiel (Skull & Shackles), Seoni (Wrath of the Righteous), Ezren (Mummy's Mask), Simoun (Mummy's Mask), Enora (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of Factions' Favor Adventure 3
• Ranger Class Deck: Harsk (Rise of the Runelords), Harsk (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Rogue Class Deck: Merisiel (Rise of the Runelords), Merisiel (Skull & Shackles), Simoun (Mummy's Mask), Jirelle (Skull & Shackles)—unlocked by Season of the Shackles Adventure 1, Arueshalae (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by convention boon, Zadim (Mummy's Mask—unlocked by Season of Plundered Tombs Adventure 6
• Sorcerer Class Deck: Seoni (Rise of the Runelords), Seoni (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Summoner Class Deck: Balazar (Wrath of the Righteous)
• Warpriest Class Deck: Oloch (Skull & Shackles)
• Witch Class Deck: Feiya (Skull & Shackles)
• Wizard Class Deck: Ezren (Rise of the Runelords), Ezren (Mummy's Mask), Enora (Wrath of the Righteous)—unlocked by Season of the Shackles Adventure 6

Whew! That's a lot of possibilities! Some of these options are total win for the characters, such as unlocking the Hunter deck for any Ranger. But there are a few that are more strange and interesting. Let's talk about a few of these, shall we?

The Pathfinder Tales deck has the most new options. The deck contains Varian (a wizard), Radovan (a rogue), and Celeste (a sorcerer). The Wizard, Rogue and Sorcerer Class decks are among the first that were released, so they didn't include any cards from some of the more recent base sets. The Tales deck has plenty of new cards, so let's see what fun things we can do giving those cards to a character who has otherwise been left a bit behind as far as card selection goes: Seoni from Wrath of the Righteous.

Seoni's Element Master role works best with spells that have the Acid, Cold, Electricity or Fire traits, of which the Tales deck includes many. When you choose this role, she gains a free power to reduce damage of a type matching one of these traits. She can also take a feat to add a flat +4 to her checks that have one of those traits, and another feat to let her auto-recharge items with those traits, so items like Necklace of Fireballs and Wand of Flame are excellent choices for her.

You can just imagine Seoni's delight when she finds this wand in some dark dungeon.

Has your Seoni been frustrated by the Trigger trait in either of the Mummy's Mask-based seasons? Grab the Tales ally Eando Kline, who gives you the ability to ignore non-villain Trigger powers. Or pick up the duo of Acadamae Student and Acadamae Scholar, who work together to make your Arcane checks oh-so-good. Or grab Jelani or Isiem, who can add the Cold or Fire trait to your combat check with a simple recharge. And there's a Blessing of the Elements in the Tales deck, an obvious choice for fiery Seoni.

Next, let's take a look at the new Occult Adventures decks. Both include characters from the Mummy's Mask Base Set, including my best character ever. Mavaro can be played using any of four other class decks, so he has had access to plenty of excellent boons throughout his long and storied career. However, some of the boons in Occult Adventures 2 are just too perfect for him to pass up.

For example, Mavaro has his own sword, The Missing Eye. It's a fine weapon, and is especially good at taking out demons. And it gives him a bonus on Fortitude or Perception checks when he really needs it. Even better, if he displays it, he gains four useful skills equal to his Intelligence: Strength, Melee, Wisdom and Divine. If you'd like to use him as a spellcaster, there are some excellent spells that use his Knowledge or Perception for effects or recharge checks, both of which he has a bonus to, such as Mind Thrust, Object Reading, and Kinetic Blast.

There are a lot of reasons why Mavaro is my favorite character, but I think the top one is his rockin' dad bod.

Have you found yourself taking a bunch of Mental damage that can't be reduced? You should really pick up the Crystal Mail, which will let you recharge those cards instead of discarding them. Or perhaps you could hang the Shrunken Head on your belt, letting you ignore a monster's powers that happen before you act. Also check out the Mindblade, who lets you use your Perception skill for your combat check.

I hope I've convinced you already of the potential value of some of these deck unlocks, but now let's really go off the deep end with the Hell's Vengeance character decks! I'm going to start with Deck 2, which contains Zelhara the Inquisitor, thereby allowing us to use Imrijka from Wrath of the Righteous. In her quest to root out evil and corruption, Imrijka has never been afraid to use tactics that might make some people squirm, so I can imagine she would embrace some less-than-legal items if she got hold of them, and that's exactly what the Hell's Vengeance 2 deck does for her.

First, there are a ton of great Ranged weapons that she can use her unique Ranged: Strength +1 skill with, such as the Galvanic Chakram +1, the Spirit Blade, or my favorite, the Stalker's Crossbow. Of course, that crossbow has the Corrupted trait, but there are ways that Imrijka can get around the penalties that trait imposes, like the Redeemer Blacksmith or the Channel Corruption spell.

Imrijka has never been too concerned with getting her hands dirty, and using a Corrupted weapon for the sake of good intentions is still good, right? Guys? Where are you going?

Excellent spells like Blade Lash and Steal Soul are here for the taking as well. The Sniper's Studded Leather, Shackles of Compliance, and Robe of Bones are all fantastic items that Imrijka can use to streak fear into her enemies, and those animated Undead allies... well, she normally wouldn't make use of those as a Pharasmin, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Last but not least, let's look at Hell's Vengeance 1. This deck includes Lazzero, a cleric of Asmodeus. He's evil and grouchy and people just generally don't like him much, but perhaps there's another cleric that can bring some divine light into this deck? I'm talking about Kyra, my friends. No, not Drelm. Kyra. Yes, you heard me right.

Kyra is a goody-two-shoes, and everyone knows it. She's a staunch supporter of Sarenrae, hates dead things, and tries to bring light and happiness to all. But not this Kyra. Maybe this version of Kyra lost the love of her life Merisiel in a fight with a vampire, and was turned by that vampire to serve his dark bidding? However it happened, this is not the undead-hating Sarenrae-loving Kyra we all know and love... this is something else, and there are plenty of ways for her to get out her newfound aggression using Hell's Vengeance 1. Interested in using a flaming hammer to strike down some weaklings? Check out Sinderbos, and maybe boost your combat with a fun spell like Instrument of Agony or Circle of Evil. Or perhaps just burn them to death with your Hellfire Halo..

Look into her eyes and tell me there's a shred of decency left in her. Oops, you probably shouldn't have looked directly into her eyes...

There are fun allies to capture, like the devil Suurlahetas or the Asmodean High Priest. There are a dizzying array of new Corrupted blessings to choose from as well, like the Blessing of the Prince of Lies, which lets you bury it and all other cards in your hand to straight up succeed at a check against a boon or non-villain bane.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that playing evil Kyra will be easy. Neither the Rise of the Runelords nor the Wrath of the Righteous versions of her have as many ways to deal with the penalties of Corrupted boons as the characters that come in the deck do, so she'll have to rely on things like Channel Corruption and the Redeemer Blacksmith. If you're looking for a challenge, though, bringing Kyra over to the dark side might just be up your alley.

That's it for this edition of "Tyler takes over the Paizo blog." I've recently become the Venture Captain for Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild online play, and we are currently running several games as part of the OutPost play-by-post gaming convention on the Paizo forums, so if you have any questions about this blog's content or about playing the card game online, feel free to contact me at cartmanbeck@orgplayonline.com!

Tyler "Cartmanbeck" Beck
Venture Captain, Adventure Card Guild Online Play

A Call to Vol II—Gen Con 2018!

Wednesday, January 17, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Block times:

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

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

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

The details of each benefit are as follows:

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

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

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

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

Until our next blog—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge

Organized Play Manager

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things (of 2017)

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

This past year has been a big wild ride. We launched Starfinder to great success, had a busy Gen Con watching the book fly off the shelves, and put out some amazing books that aren't set in space. We've even had some changes in our line-up, with changing job titles and responsibilities that helped a number of us take a step up. 2017 has been full of excitement (and a little chaos, but what creative endeavor doesn't have at least a little chaos?). It's been a busy year for everyone here at Paizo, and I wanted to give the developers and designers a chance to talk about some of the projects they've worked on this year that they've enjoyed working on the most. Being a creator can be rough sometimes, and it's important to feel pride about the things you've helped make.

*Any developer or designer not included in this blog was far too busy to contribute to this blog I sprung on them. Sorry folks!

Logan Bonner (Designer)
Most of my stuff that came out in 2017 feels like I worked on it a million years ago. I had a big hand in the underlying math and class design of Starfinder, and it was so much fun going into deep design and play with foundational concepts in a way we rarely get to do with the more established Pathfinder. I also worked up the monster creation rules, based on work I initially did for Pathfinder Unchained, during the Starfinder Core Rulebook creation process. Seeing them make their way to the public in Alien Archive was exciting! And speaking of exciting, the highlight of the year was seeing Starfinder fly off the shelves at its Gen Con launch. I was there Thursday morning, went on my scheduled break, and when I came back, it was gone! Mind-blowing!

Jason Bulmahn (Director of Game Design)
2017 has been a truly exciting year in the game design mines... but as with most years, the things I have been working on have yet to even be announced! So, here is to 2018 and all of the amazing things I am looking forward to sharing with all of you in the coming months!

John Compton (Organized Play Lead Developer)
Although its copyright date shows 2016, Pathfinder Adventure Path #113: What Grows Within ended up hitting shelves in 2017, marking not only the first Adventure Path volume of the year but also the first one I wrote. It was a great experience and a great opportunity to create some really weird characters (including Hoshbagh) and present desperate PCs with desperate situations. The process also prepared me for writing the second volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path, Temple of the Twelve, which let me draw on my archaeology training to invent a host of academics—both qualified and absurd—and a lost culture on a hitherto undocumented continent.

On the organized play front, I'm proud of helping Thurston Hillman get the Starfinder Society program up and running, especially in the changes we incorporated into the Guide (like the new approach to boons) and the plans we've set in motion for more than a year of great adventures. In the meantime, Pathfinder Society's been creating great adventures and accomplishing big things. In 2017 we wrapped up the Season 8 plotline, culminating in the excellent Pathfinder Society Scenario #8–25: Unleashing the Untouchable that has ramifications across the inner planes.

Adam Daigle (Managing Developer)
I had a hand in thirteen books that came out in 2017, by either being the developer for the whole book or pitching in on a book with another development lead. (I had a lighter hand in a whole bunch more, but those contributions aren't terribly noteworthy and are frankly quite boring.) Of all of these, I'd have to say that the one thing I'm most proud of is the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path. This was the first Adventure Path where I got to fully run the show, so to speak. I got to outline the Adventure Path and form the excellent team of writers who brought it to life. Working with all of them was a developer's dream, and seeing this Adventure Path go from ideas to real books that people are playing and enjoying has been a highlight of my work year. I was also happy to get more information about my lil' fear babies, the sahkils, in Book of the Damned.

My favorite personal development over this past year has been stepping up to lead the best damn group of developers in the business. I can't wait to share some of our efforts in 2018. Onward and upward!

Thurston Hillman (Starfinder Society Developer)
As many know, this was my first year working for Paizo. I had been freelancing for Paizo for a while, but this was the year I took on the Starfinder Society Developer position and got to work on helping to build an entirely new Organized Play program (alongside Tonya, John, Linda, and several others.) It's hard to pinpoint a single "best moment” in this year, but I think I have to go with Gen Con 2017, where we officially launched the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Along with getting to see our new game in action, it was an incredible experience seeing GMs from across the world coming to help run the first games of Starfinder Society. Given how we've just announced several (but not all) of our plans for 2018, I suspect next year's PaizoCon, Origins, and Gen Con (ok, and SkålCon) will be full of new Starfinder Society stories!

Amanda Hamon Kunz (Development Coordinator)
Wow, 2017 has been busy! I've worked on a whole bunch of products, but I think the highlight for me has to be the Starfinder RPG. I really enjoyed working on some of the core system design of our new science-fantasy game as a member of the Starfinder design team; you'll see my fingerprints all over the Starfinder Core Rulebook's tactical rules, equipment, and magic chapters, as well as chunks of the character creation and setting chapters and beyond. It's very rewarding to see our game's positive reception among fans, and to be involved with so many great Paizo team members to help create it and get it out into the world. Similarly, writing the third Starfinder Adventure Path volume, Splintered Worlds, was also a huge highlight of 2017 for me. I had a ton of fun creating the creepy atmospheres and plots that pervade that adventure, from a Dead Space-inspired cultist base to macabre adventures among the undead residents of Eox. I'll avoid spoilers and stop there! Regardless, a lot happened in 2017, and it's exciting to think about what 2018 may bring.

Jason Keeley (Developer)
Of course, I am very proud about the release of Starfinder, whose popularity has surpassed all of our expectations. But while we were putting the finish touches of the Starfinder Core Rulebook, I was already up to my waist in Alien Archive, corralling most of those weird beasties and fascinating aliens. I couldn't be more excited to have worked on a roleplaying game where a party can consist of a floating jellyfish being, an albino minotaur, a humongous brain, and a lizard person that can shoot blood out of her eye! On a personal note, I am also thrilled to have written the articles on Hadregash and Cyth-V'sug that appeared in the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path. Two different evil gods, but both so fun to write. And one of them let me indulge in writing some very gross stuff. I'll leave it to you to figure out which deity is more disgusting: the militaristic barghest or the demon lord of fungus and parasites.

Rob McCreary (Creative Director, Starfinder)
This past year was all about Starfinder for me, most notably the Starfinder Core Rulebook. But I'm especially happy with Incident at Absalom Station, the adventure I wrote for the Dead Suns Adventure Path. Besides kicking off the Starfinder Adventure Path, Incident at Absalom Station was also the very first adventure published for Starfinder. The project presented a number of challenges, not the least of which was the fact that we didn't have the final Starfinder rules when I started writing it! But that didn't stop me, and it did give me the chance to bring one particular monster from Pathfinder to Starfinder—the akata, which I've loved ever since it first appeared back in Pathfinder Adventure Path #14: Children of the Void. I also had a lot of fun designing the PCs' first starship, the Sunrise Maiden, which is the Starfinder iconic characters' ship too. I've really enjoyed hearing about people's experiences running and playing the adventure on the messageboards, and can't wait to see how people respond to the rest of the adventures in the Dead Suns campaign!

Joe Pasini (Developer)
In the first few months of this year, I was a contract editor for Paizo, hustling with a fantastic group of people to get Starfinder, a brand new RPG, out the door. Now, as the year comes to a close, I'm a developer for that same RPG, and I couldn't be more proud of the collective effort (including my small part) that it took to bring this game to the world.

In the summer and fall, I got to work with Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, and Amanda Hamon Kunz (listed alphabetically, because I'll always be an editor at heart) to put out a couple rad Player Companions (Antihero's Handbook and People of the Wastes) and the back matter of the first volumes of the War for the Crown Adventure Path. Learning at the feet of such titans of the industry was enlightening, humbling—and frickin' awesome.

Here's to an epic 2018!

Owen K.C. Stephens (Starfinder Design Lead)
It likely comes as no surprise that the thing I am proudest of that I worked on in 2017 is Starfinder. My work on the Starfinder Core Rulebook was mostly done in 2016, though some of that work bled into the early weeks of this year, but I'm not even talking about just the rulebooks. With Starfinder, I have gotten to be on the ground floor of a new RPG line again, and that comes with a lot of work beyond the rulebooks. I have enjoyed being part of planning a universe, and expanding it to new places, brainstorming new concepts and new adventures, discussing which of the things we don't have yet we want (and which we don't), and when and how to present them. I'm part of a brilliant team that's setting the tone and course for a brand new venture, and I am proud of both the work we've done and what we have in the pipeline.

Linda Zayas-Palmer (Developer)
I'm bad at picking favorites, so I won't pick just one. I'm pumped about Season 9 of Pathfinder Society, the Year of Factions' Favor, and proud of the work I put into building the overarching story. After seeing the reception to several scenarios, especially Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-02: A Case of Missing Persons, I'm looking forward to seeing what people think of the ways these plots in unfold later in the season. Another fun project I worked on this year was a pair of flexible Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild adventures, #4–P1: Murder in the Marketplace and #4–P2: Dangerous Cargo. I play the ACG almost every week, and there's something amazing about watching my friends have fun with something I wrote. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my first published race: the vine leshy from Ultimate Wilderness. More leshys makes for a better game.

Mark Seifter (Designer)
"The math is going to be completely different, but also it needs to be fully compatible with all the Pathfinder monsters." Doing both of those things in Starfinder seemed like a tall order, so one of my absolutely coolest moments was when I plugged all the required constraints together, working alongside Logan, and tweaked all the variables along until finally…it clicked! I found an arrangement that would allow the brand new combat math, no longer balanced around making attacks at –10 or –15 at higher levels, to mesh directly with numbers right out of the table in the back of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. There was literally a single path to victory, a ray of light in the sea of numbers. I was able to lay it out, and sure enough, Starfinder characters have math that interacts completely smoothly with the numbers on Pathfinder foes, while retaining a combat dynamic all their own!

Adam Daigle
Managing Developer

A Call to Vol—PaizoCon 2018!

Monday, December 18, 2017

In prior years, it seemed that we had a distinctive convention season with a slower period during the winter. This model doesn't work anymore, as PAX Unplugged extended the season into mid-November, and next year pushes it further back into early December, while Martin Luther King Junior's birthday weekend is the launch of the new convention season.

The new season brings with it several Paizo-sponsored conventions with a large organized play presence. PaizoCon, Gen Con, Origins, as well as travel to other shows such as UK Games Expo, PaizoCon UK, and PaizoCon OZ. Planning for these conventions started several months ago. Over the past few months, Paizo staff worked hard on updating the Attendance policy. With it completed and releasing to the public this month (along with updates the PaizoCon area of paizo.com), tickets sales are soon to follow. One of my goals includes offering volunteer slots for Paizo-sponsored conventions before the ticket sales open. This allows volunteers to make plans with their friends before purchasing tickets. Thus, we moved the call for volunteers from its usual February timeslot to today.

We have a few big changes from last year. We hope this streamline some of the processes or bring more options for attendees at the convention.

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

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

Third change is overnight madness! Following on the success of having overnight games at Gen Con 50, we are trying it out at PaizoCon. We will schedule some tables of Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society, but there will be a limited number of tables available on a first-come, first-served basis for attendees wishing to play other games.

Fourth, afternoon tables may be submitted to the PaizoCon event system. When Sara Marie requests submissions from third parties, feel free to submit items for Pathfinder Society or Starfinder Society. Any tables not allocated through the system by the time submissions will be available on site with first-come, first-served priority.

Finally, we are setting a 7 block maximum for volunteering. We want people to take a break and see what the convention has to offer. PaizoCon is a celebration of Paizo, its staff, and community and we want you to experience different aspects of it. Oh, and eat. We really want you to have time for food, rest, and showers.

Last year, we utilized 78 GMs, Card Guild organizers, and HQ volunteers to ensure organized play activities at PaizoCon ran smoothly. I anticipate the same needs again this year, depending on how many blocks each volunteer requests. We have a few new choices for volunteers this year. As we are running overnight games, we will need a handful of GMs to run games through the wee hours of the morning. We are also looking for two HQ volunteers for the afternoon block to man the information desk and two for the overnight block, when they would be manning the info desk but mainly focused reporting prior blocks game information. Due to the limited number of places, space fills up quickly, so I recommend signing up as soon as you know you can commit to the event.

Volunteer slots are scheduled as follows:

Block	RPG/ACG GMs	HQ
Friday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Friday Afternoon	N/A	1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Friday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Friday Overnight	12:45 AM to 6:00 AM	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Saturday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Saturday Afternoon	N/A	1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Saturday Overnight	12:45 AM to 6:00 AM	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Sunday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Afternoon	N/A	1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Sunday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Sunday Overnight	12:45 AM to 6:00 AM	1:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Monday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM

The breakdown of what benefits are available for each tier are:

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

The details of each benefit are as follows:

• Print Product—A FREE copy of one Paizo print product of your choice valued at $59.99 or less (excludes preorders or backorders).
• Badge—A free 4-Day PaizoCon 2018 badge
• T-Shirts—Limited release t-shirts given every other year.
• Boon/Reward—An PaizoCon exclusive boon for Starfinder (RPG), Pathfinder (RPG), or (ACG)
• Store Credit—Paizo.com store credit at $10 per slot

Those interested in volunteering, please complete the PaizoCon 2018 volunteer questionnaire. I will consider everyone who completes the form, but reserve the right to select volunteers who have worked at PaizoCon in prior years.

Huge thanks to everyone who gives of their time and resources to help make us the largest organized play program in the world. You rock!

See you Wednesday for an early holiday present. Until then—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge

Organized Play Manager

Homebrew Special: The Little Dragons That Could

Thursday, November 16, 2017

We continue our Pathfinder Adventure Card Game homebrew series with a look at True Dragons of Absalom by David Jacobson (Theryon Stormrune) and newly crowned Pathfinder Society ACG Online Play venture-captain Tyler Beck (Cartmanbeck).

At PaizoCon 2016, with help of ACG organized play coordinator Tanis O'Connor, we debuted a series of adventures based on the incredibly popular We Be Goblins modules that Paizo has been releasing as part of Free RPG Day over the last few years. We had enjoyed playing the RPG versions of the scenarios so much, and had fallen in love with the tempestuous goblin characters detailed in the modules, so it was natural to try to convert them. We even convinced Tanis to create a special boon for the event (one coveted by many an ACG player since then). Then, before Gen Con 2016, we were honored to be asked to help adapt these into the official Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild Season of the Goblins!

We were thrilled by how well received our goblins content had been, so we decided to set to work on another set of adventures for PaizoCon 2017. There were more We Be Goblins modules we could use for inspiration, but one of our good friends, Elizabeth Corrigan (Eliandra Giltessan), has some sort of personal distaste for goblins—crazy, right??—so she asked us to consider kobolds instead. Coincidentally, one of our all-time favorite Pathfinder Society scenarios features kobolds: Thurston Hillman's (in)famous True Dragons of Absalom! Anytime Paizo provides pregen characters like the ones in that scenario, they beg to be adapted.

True Dragons of Absalom brings players into the slightly crazed mindset of Absalom's sewer-dwelling kobold tribe, the Sewer Dragons. These kobolds are given a field commission by Venture-Captain Drandle Dreng himself to serve the Pathfinder Society in tracking down the perpetrators of a plot involving the Sewer Dragons' turf and a shadowy group calling themselves the Onyx Alliance. Just as exciting as the story, however, is the chance to run through an organized play scenario as a kobold, a race not normally legal for Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild play… and the pregenerated kobolds that come with that scenario do not disappoint.

Engashez represents the most diplomatic of kobolds… a Dragon Yapper bard who, rather than buffing her allies, annoys her enemies into submission with her high-pitched screeching and drumming.

So, we set about adapting the pregens for our game. Everyone who's familiar with Pathfinder kobolds knows that if there's one thing that kobolds are renowned for, it's their traps. They LOVE setting traps. We obviously had to translate this deadly proclivity into character powers, so we came up with a brand-new mechanic for trap-setting.

Traps aren't just for rogues and rangers! Varanog's magic traps will make cinders out of the most resilient adventurers …I mean monsters!

The nice thing about the trap-setting mechanic is that it gives you the chance to get cards out of your hand while setting up for combat checks later on. You could even set a trap or two at your current location, then move away and let one of your less combat-oriented allies jump over and obliterate a monster.

Once we adapted all six characters, we had to decide on the rest of the storyline. We wanted to have more than a single ACG adventure, so we dove into the Pathfinder Modules archive and found the perfect solution: We would also adapt Crown of the Kobold King and Revenge of the Kobold King. This would give us inspiration for tons of excellent characters for our special adventure path, including Jeva the werewolf-child; the deadly forge-spurned; and Merlokrep, the kobold king himself.

As a bit of a tangent, a lot of the scenarios we were putting together were set in the sewers of Absalom. Did you ever realize how difficult it is to design an entire adventure based in a sewer system? We had to pull locations from several different base sets, as well as create a couple of new sewer locations which were reused throughout the entire Adventure Path. We playtested and modified these until we were satisfied, and it was a bit tougher than we'd imagined.

We designed a bunch of dragon-themed boons, and even commissioned art for a bunch of them by the gifted and talented Keera McNeill; check out more of her work at Vivid As Life Illustrations)! I shudder to think how many playful faerie dragons had to die for my favorite new armor…

Note: The images on the cards above are not covered by the Paizo Community Use Policy, as Paizo does not own the copyrights to them.

We'd like to take a moment at this point to recognize that these cards ended up looking really nice, and we don't want to take all of the credit for that. Besides our awesome artist, we also had help from the one and only Andrew Warner (Hawkmoon269), who created a really excellent card creator database that we used to generate the majority of these new cards.

You'll notice a new Hat trait on that jester's cap. That's because adventure deck 2 of our We Are Dragons homebrew series includes a pleasant surprise for those who have played through True Dragons of Absalom:

Hats is a simple otyugh with simple tastes, and is by far our favorite otyugh of all time.

Hats likes hats. When Hats loses one of his hats, he gets mad. He has only a single role, the Master Collector, which helps him collect even more hats. I think you can see the pattern emerging here. When we sat down to play True Dragons at PaizoCon 2017, one of the first things a player asked was "Is Hats in this?” so we knew we'd made a good choice including him as an unlockable character.

Speaking of PaizoCon, Mike Selinker himself showed up and sat down to play with us, and really enjoyed the characters and scenarios. He also pointed out mistakes and suggested improvements in the scenarios and cards with such precision and care that it would have been impossible not to know that he does this for a living.

We've really enjoyed designing and running these special adventures for PaizoCon, and we're going to continue doing it. For PaizoCon 2018, we've got a very piratey, gobliny campaign planned; if you're planning to attend, we can't wait to see you there!

Tyler Beck and David Jacobson

A Look at PACG's Murder in the Marketplace

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Not your friends.

Season of Factions' Favor, our current—and weirdest—Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is well underway. Designed by Keith Richmond with story by Katina Davis, Adventure 1, Chasing Yellow Sails, kicked off at Gen Con, leading the adventurers into the slave markets of Okeno in pursuit of a captured criminal. It's a rollicking adventure, and the upcoming Adventure 2 is also a mindbender.

But it's our first free promo scenario, the newly released Murder in the Marketplace that takes place between those adventures, that I think everyone will talk about for some time.

When the Pathfinder Society's John Compton and Tonya Woldridge first approached me about their plans for this Adventure Path, they had to answer the burning question: How do we justify the inclusion of our upcoming Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 1 and Deck 2? The characters in Hell's Vengeance are all unrelentingly evil. Unlike in the RPG side of organized play, the ACG can handle evil characters. So characters like Wrathack, Tontelizi, and Wu Shen are all street-legal. But with Hell's Vengeance, these folks have a purpose. They work as a team. An evil team. For evil.

To make it clear why they would work with good guys, we needed to justify their inclusion in the story arc. I won't spoil for you why they're there. But I will tell you the way we set it up, because it's cool. Designed by Keith and written by Linda Zayas-Palmer, Murder in the Marketplace is not one scenario, it's three. Each one is a battle to find and defeat one of the Deck 1 iconics: the cleric Lazzero, the hellknight Linxia, or the antipaladin Urgraz. You can play any one of the scenarios you want, or all three. Because the purpose is not only to defeat these baddies, it's to unleash them.

If you win one of these Murder-fests, you get a special reward. Here's Lazzero's, with Linxia's and Urgraz's following the same pattern.

Each player may, for each future scenario, choose to exchange his character that completed this scenario with Lazzero from Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 1. Lazzero gets the same number of skill, power, and card feats as the exchanged character, as well as all other applicable rewards that character has earned (including any valid deck upgrades and a role card if appropriate). Build Lazzero's deck from the Hell's Vengeance Character Deck 1 box using the Hierarchy from the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide. The exchanged character receives any rewards and upgrades from the scenario. Report the character as Unlocked Cleric Lazzero.

When you unlock this character, you can swap him in for any other Adventure Card Guild character that completed that version of P1. At any time. At any tier. You don't have to build up the character over time. You just pick a character to swap for and say "I want to play this scenario with the guy in the devil hat here." Or the woman with the forehead tattoo. Or the guy with the crossbow bigger than his body. Whatever. And something similar will occur between adventures 2 and 3 for the Deck 2 characters.

Why do they get this amazing flexibility? I already told you that. It's because they're evil. And rules are for suckers. We'll have a preview of Deck 1 next time, and you can see what I mean.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

Exploring Factions' Favor

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

PaizoCon wrapped up about a month ago, and although we announced the next season of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild at the preview banquet, we're overdue for a proper introduction on paizo.com.

In the pursuit of ancient secrets and unclaimed treasures, the Pathfinder Society doesn't just make discoveries; it also makes enemies. A cast of the campaign's greatest villains has conspired to take their revenge against the Pathfinder, bringing war to the footstep of the great city Absalom and chaos to the Inner Sea region. For years, factions within the Society have championed their own agendas, fought for recognition, and accumulated resources. At last they have a chance to prove themselves—an experience that could leave these organizations changed forever in Season 9 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: the Year of Factions' Favor.

In the coming year, Pathfinders have an opportunity to redeem souls, avert an invasion, uncover hidden secrets below an infamous museum, and vanquish an ageless evil poised to take control of the region's greatest minds. At the same time, players can use faction resources to shut down an exploitative consortium, thwart a league of dangerous villains, oust an infamous tyrant, and decide whether the ends justify the means in the pursuit of justice. On top of this there are tombs to unseal, artifacts to recover, and countless other adventures that await in this exciting season that debuts at Gen Con 2017!

Icon Illustration by Giorgio Baroni

One of the big questions I've heard over the past several years is "Our factions keep building connections and accumulating resources, but for what?" For some factions it's been pretty clear, such as the then-Taldor building up steam to launch its own Army of Exploration during Season 5. For others, the payoffs have been less obvious. For others still, it's been less a question of payoff and more a matter of self-reflection; some of the factions have found themselves pulled in multiple directions, whether that's multiple leaders vying for ideological dominance or a leader and a faction growing steadily less suited for each other. With Season 9, we're examining a bunch of these questions by giving many factions a big events in which to flex their muscles, prove their worth (in-game and out), and trigger some substantial changes on the world. Some factions are performing some house cleaning, such as rooting out corruption or thwarting a growing menace within their ranks. Others still are receiving smaller-scale stories tied to recurring characters whose narratives spin into a much larger event. All in all, each of the factions is getting something exciting to pursue over the course of Season 9.

Although Season 9 had a placeholder name of "Year of the Factions" for many months, the adventures are far from faction-exclusive. Characters of all factions should be able to enjoy these scenarios, and Society leadership will oversee the vast majority of these adventures—particularly ensuring that the Society's interests aren't lost in the shuffle. Many of these adventures also involve the same elements that we've come to expect from Pathfinder Society scenarios, such as exploring ancient sites, uncovering hidden secrets, discovering rarely-traveled lands, and dishing out a generous helping of RPG action. All the while, the factions are jostling for the opportunity to lend their support and be awesome. For example, if a noteworthy port is giving the Society trouble and keeping the PCs from going on an adventure, you can bet the Exchange is chomping at the bit and saying, "Is this municipality using economic warfare to block you? Two can play at that game. Hold my beer."

On top of that, we'll have a helping of unaffiliated adventures, including a new higher-than-1st-level replayable adventure.

The Adventure Path

From Season 3 to Season 6 of Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, the campaign's overarching theme connected to one of two Adventure Paths that would release that year. While this allowed the developers to promote and borrow from the supporting literature released around that same time for the Adventure Path, it also meant the organized play program was telling less of its own story. Beginning in Season 7, we broke from that mold. While the freedom to craft our own narrative is delightful, I've been missing the sense of cross-product collaboration. The difference is that rather than wait for the Adventure Path line to set the direction, I went straight to Crystal Frasier to start planning things from the ground up.

Crystal's a delightful co-conspirator, and I've known for a while that her desire to shake up Taldor is even stronger than my own. When we put our heads together, we realized just how well our two stories could work together, rather than one being subservient to the other. After all, the Sovereign Court's been building up to something big for quite some time, and overthrowing an irresponsible monarch in order to revitalize one of our central nations sounds like just the right thing.

Is the entirety of Season 9 about Taldor and the upcoming War for the Crown? Far from it, but we will have several scenarios that tell a big Sovereign Court faction story and contribute to this Adventure Path.

Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild

There are more stories we have in reserve than we have scenario slots to give them, and last year we tried something a little new with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild: we began tying its story into that of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and cementing the PCs' role as Pathfinders. For those of you interested in the ongoing Scarab Sages narrative and drama with the Aspis Consortium, I encourage you to play Season 3: Season of Plundered Tombs.

For the first time, we have a shared season name between these two campaigns, so Season 4 is the Season of Factions' Favor. Here we'll show another side of one of the ongoing plot threads, giving players an opportunity to travel to rarely visited regions in order to thwart an infamous, recurring villain who threatens to cast the Inner Sea region into chaos. So when several upcoming Roleplaying Guild scenarios reference the behind-the-scenes efforts of another group of Pathfinders, remember that you can experience those stories with the Adventure Card Guild.

We're launching the Season of Factions' Favor at Gen Con in August!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

OPC Log—5 Erastus, 4017

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

The sun beats down on the northern hemisphere, while the southern hemisphere enjoys its cooler season. While some folk enjoy the heat, I'm thinking the 117 Fahrenheit in Las Vegas is just a wee bit too hot. Soon I'll return to the Pacific Northwest, but not for long. July finds us halfway through the summer convention season, which launches with the plethora of conventions on Memorial Day and ends with the Labor Day extravaganza! Which means lots of travel and meeting new players.

Year-round schools and flexible vacation now available to folks, the convention season never really slows down these days, but many of the biggest names in conventions all occur over the May-September period. Pathfinder Society will be at many of these events! If you still have a free weekend, consider coming out to a convention near you:

Dice Tower Convention 2017	Orlando, FL	7/5/17
CONvergence 2017	Bloomington, MN	7/6/17
Play On Con 10 (2017)	Columbiana, AL	7/6/17
Clearwater Con 2017	Eau Claire, WI	7/7/17
Pathathon 2017	Somerset, KY	7/7/17
Salt Lake Gaming Con 2017	Sandy, UT	7/7/17
Summer Wolfcon 2017	Glen Ellyn, IL	7/7/17
B-CON Summer 2017	Frankfurt am Main, Germany	7/8/17
Glengus Con 2017	Ottawa, Canada	7/8/17
Kantcon 2017	Overland Park, KS	7/14/17
TPKon 3 - Absalom Drift	Online	7/14/17
VrockCon 2017	Flat Rock, NC	7/15/17
Comic-Con International 2017	San Diego, CA	7/20/17
CharCon 2017	Charleston, WV	7/21/17
Gem State Gaming Convention 2017	Boise, ID	7/21/17
OGC 2017	Nashua, NH	7/21/17
PaizoCon UK 2017*	Birmingham, UK	7/21/17
PFS @ Feencon 2017	Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany	7/21/17
QuinCon XXXII	Quincy, IL	7/21/17
Summerfest 2017	Kennewick, WA	7/22/17
ConBravo 2017	Hamilton, ON, Canada	7/28/17
Ropecon 2017	Helsinki, Finland	7/28/17
GardenCon 2017	Geneva, Switzerland	8/3/17
MegaMooseCon	Richburg, SC	8/4/17
2D Con 2017	Bloomington, MN	8/11/17
Gen Con 50 (2017)*	Indianapolis, IN	8/17/17
Dragonflight 38 (2017)	Bellevue, WA	8/25/17
Shadowcon UK 2017	London, UK	8/26/17

*Paizo staff attending this convention.

On the topic of conventions; if you missed PaizoCon 2017, the awesome folks at Know Direction recorded the panels and banquet and made them available for download. Check here for all available topics!

Also convention related—we are still looking for volunteers for Gen Con 50! Most of our vacancies are for GMs to run games (Starfinder and Pathfinder), but we may have other places open up before the event starts on August 17th. A summary of the Gen Con volunteer experience is January 30th's "A Call to Vol" blog. Directions for volunteering are at the bottom of the blog.

The Gen Con leads and I working to open more Starfinder Society tables at Gen Con and hope to coordinate our efforts with the Gen Con events staff early next week. Keep an eye on the Gen Con catalog for more information.

Check back to the blog often, as we have lots of information to impart before the launch of the next organized play seasons at Gen Con 50. The team is pulling together to complete all the tasks needed to run our portion of the Best 4 Days in Gaming! 38 days and counting, which means I need to get back to work.

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Stay Alert, Holy Plasma Cannons Ahead!

Sunday, May 28, 2017

PaizoCon manages to land on near-perfect holiday weekends with bright and glorious sunshine making the first signs of summer at the forefront of minds in the Pacific Northwest. And as we all know, that means that convention season has begun—with local cons, big ones, and the Best 4 Days in Gaming (Gen Con) looming around the corner! I'm taking a few minutes here at the nice and quiet (and empty) Paizo offices to give those of you who didn't make it out the PaizoCon 2017 Preview Banquet last night a glimpse of some of the fun you can expect this summer (and beyond!).

Last year you might remember we announced something pretty big, and we didn't mess around this time: Starfinder is coming! Space guns blazing, the massive Starfinder Core Rulebook was in the spotlight of the preview banquet. Lots of information came at us at lightspeed (and Jason Keeley made a truly amazing and landmark entrance with a provisional copy of the Core Rulebook), and I'm even still processing them all, but here are some key things of note:

• All seven iconics and the core races were introduced by Senior Developer Rob McCreary, and you can expect the series of backstories and class introductions on the Paizo blog to resume soon after we wrap up the show.
• Each race receives a detailed write up with a plethora of options and ideas for player chracters, with pretty gorgeous introductory spreads.
• Each class gets a similar treatment in the Core Rulebook, with easy to reference features and statistics to flesh out your own custom build. What I really like about each class writeup are the character theme options in the back of each class section to give you a place to kick off your next character idea. The preview last night featured operative class samples like the hacker, investigator, theif, and trailblazer.
• Development Coordinator Amanda Hamon Kunz gave us a look at character creation in Starfinder. This chapter has it all! Whether you're an RPG veteran, or a casual player like me, you will find ways to get your character up and running with an intuitive building process as well as prebuilt options to pick up and go.
• Did we mention that yes, you can magic missile in space?
• What about a spell to summon a swarm of nano-bots to do your space-magic bidding?! 'Cause yeah, we did mention that ;)
• Developer Owen KC Stephens abated concerns about the hanging question regarding goblins. in. space. Yes, they're there, and they've got laser guns.
• Did we mention weapons? Because this is just one spread of the guns available in Starfinder.
• Editor Jason Keeley covered some of the information regarding starships. The chapter covering them has rules for engagement, stats for prebuilt ships, and rules for building your own craft.
• And what point is there in having a ship to get around without being able to travel to new worlds and get caught in alien traps? The Game Mastering chapter provides resources for your next campaign. Let's just hope your players are resourceful enough to escape certain sticky situations, like, say... escape a certain trash compactor.
• To wrap up, Creative Director James L. Sutter gave us all insight into how the system that Golarion previously occupied has evolved since the planet's mysterious disappearance so long ago. The chart of the Pact Worlds system includes worlds familiar to you if you've played Pathfinder before, but with notable exceptions, such as the replacement of Golarion with the huge center on Absalom Station and the Idari, making its way around the Pact Worlds' sun. Each planet has a two-page spread devoted to it in the Core Rulebook.
• Hellknights in space!
• ... the Azlanti Star Empire.
• A number of familiar gods are still part of Starfinder's pantheon, but there are some new notable additions, such as Nyarlathotep.

A few months after Gen Con, when the Starfinder Core Rulebook will officially release, the Alien Archive will provide GMs and players with a number of new aliens and monsters to expand their world. There are aliens that you can play as, enemies to defeat, and the cute cuddly lil guys seen at the bottom of the final cover seen below!

Alien Archive takes a departure from the Bestiary volumes released for the Pathfinder RPG, as it will include options specific to the aliens found within such as equipment, spells, and more. Meaning that there is something for just about everyone within its pages.

After the Starfinder portion, Erik gave us a look at what is ahead for Golarion a few some many years before. The just-announced War for the Crown Adventure Path begins in February 2018! War for the Crown is a Taldor-centric campaign of espionage and intrigue where your heroes decide the fate of the nation. This next Adventure Path is being coordinated by mastermind Developer Crystal Frasier! Stay tuned for more details about this Adventure Path this summer.

So, the PaizoCon Banquet is generally where Erik goes up and mic drops a brand new Pathfinder RPG hardcover, but! We're not quite ready for that at the moment. Instead, he unveiled two new final covers...

And the brand-new shifter iconic character for November's Ultimate Wilderness...

The new shifter class is best described being to the druid as paladins are to clerics. Oh, and they can get claws. EVERYONE GETS CLAWS! While the shifter gains access to a number of animalistic aspects, it scales until it receives the capstone ability to simultaneously access 5 of these at one time. Imagine it now: a part bear, part owl, all mighty mean clawing machine!

PaizoCon would not be the show it is without our Organized Play programs. Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge and John Compton introduced us the upcoming Pathfinder Society Roleplaying and Adventure Card Guild seasons, which for the first time will be intertwined and following the same storyline. You can look forward to the launch of Faction's Favor in two and a half months at Gen Con 50.

We also have a new program launching at Gen Con to support Starfinder. The Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild begins with the Year of the Scoured Stars. A disaster has befallen the Starfinder Society, and it's the role of you to rebuild the organization and determine its future. If you missed it, Starfinder Society Developer Thurston Hillman detailed some of the finer points for the upcoming program on the blog yesterday afternoon.

I mentioned our amazing and illustrious crew of Venture-Officers above, and it goes without saying that these folks are some of the coolest people I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with. This years' Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Venture-Lieutenant, David Jacobson, for all of his hard work in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild, and coordinating with the Paizo and Lone Shark teams to make the Adventure Card Game thrive. Please join us in congratulating David and thanking him for all of his contributions to the ACG!

The latter half of the presentation covered a number of our licensed projects, including: Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Pathfinder Adventures, Pathfinder Battles, Syrinscape SoundSets (which are going to be available in retail stores this summer!!!), a newly announced digital CCG with 37 Games, and so much more! I defer to our expert Director of Licensing, and there will be an updating covered everything we had the opportunity to show off this coming Friday!

If you are at PaizoCon right now and have a spare moment, check out the Delve tables, where we've switched to showing off Starfinder! I'm going to get on the road down to SeaTac and meet y'all there! Have an excellent weekend, and we'll see you on the other side!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Gen Con 50 Events

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Last week, I previewed some of the offerings in store for PaizoCon 2017 attendees. The lottery ran and we are in the open event selection period until next Monday. If you have May 26-29 free and want to travel to beautiful Seattle, you can still pick up a badge in-person at the PaizoCon Convention store.

While most of our focus is on PaizoCon, the Gen Con catalog of events went live on their website last Sunday. Attendees may browse the offerings and compile wish lists in preparation for ticket sales starting May 28. With so many games and events, I wanted to highlight some of the key Paizo offerings.

Starfinder Society

Starfinder is the buzzword for Gen Con, and the Sagamore Ballroom will buzz with sounds of the future all weekend. Events kick off with the Starfinder Quest: Into the Unknown. While we are running free quests throughout the convention, both in the Exhibition Hall and the Sagamore Ballroom, participation entails waiting in line, playing one of the six offerings, then returning to the line. During the first two slots of the convention, Thursday 8:00 AM-1:00 PM and 2:00 PM-7:00 PM, we offer a ticket version of the Quests, which eliminates the waiting in line and gives attendees the chance to finish the entire quest series in one sitting. These quests utilize 1st level pregenerated characters available onsite.

Thursday evening is the premier of the Starfinder Society Special #1-00: Claim to Salvation. This event uses 4th level versions of the Starfinder iconic characters, which James Sutter and the Starfinder team is currently previewing Friday's on this blog. The in-world Starfinder Society needs firepower to complete a mission and turn to the iconics to provide assistance. After Thursday evening's launch, the Gen Con schedule includes tables of this event most slots.

The schedule is set up so that an attendee may play Starfinder all Thursday with pregenerated characters, pick up a copy of the Starfinder Core Rulebook from the Paizo booth in the Exhibition Hall, then make their own character and return Friday ready to play Starfinder Society Scenarios #1-01: The Commencement, #1-02: Fugitive on the Red Planet, and #1-03: Yesteryear's Truth. Of these offerings, #1-01 is a replayable scenario and #1-02 and #1-03 are for 1st to 4th level characters. Product pages are not yet available on paizo.com, but will be posted soon.

Pathfinder Society

If Starfinder isn't your focus, there are plenty of Pathfinder Society offerings. Starting with Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-07: From the Tome of Righteous Repose, we offer every subsequent Season 8 scenario, including one table most sessions of Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-25: Unleashing the Untouchable a scenario for level 12-15 characters. We also have a few older scenarios, such as Pathfinder Society Scenario #01: Silent Tide and #7-99: Through Maelstrom Rift

Friday night is the debut of the Season 9 multi-table interactive special, Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom. This event takes over the Sagamore, with 160 tables of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and 20 tables of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild playing the same scenario simultaneously. The Gen Con event system lists tickets for this event by sub-tier, so there are five different roleplaying event entries for the same event. We will monitor ticket sales and adjust the number of tables in each sub-tier as necessary, but at the event players will be required to play a character in the sub-tier for which they hold a ticket. As a note, 9th level is not listed for sale. This is the gap level and players of 9th level characters may purchase tickets for tier 7-8 or tier 10-11. We will have copies of the pregenerated iconic characters available for player use. The pregenerated characters only go to level 7, so there are no iconic pregenerated characters available for subtier 10-11. The Season 9 scenario offerings start Saturday morning at 8:00 AM. As with prior years, the first three scenarios of the season are on offer. We round out our special event offerings with the new multi-table modular special, Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-99: The Solstice Scar, scheduled for Saturday evening from 8:00 PM-1:00 AM.

The Adventure Card Guild has a full stock of events spanning all seasons of organized play, including Season of the Shackles, Season of the Righteous, and Season of the Runelords, Season of Plundered Tombs. We are putting final touches on the next season and hope to announce more information soon. As well as seasonal play and participating in the aforementioned Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom, Gen Con sees a return of the Open Tournament. Starting Thursday with qualifying rounds, the tournament event spans the entire convention, with finals on Sunday at noon. Gather your teammates and come reign victorious!

Pathfinder Society Academy is back this year, bigger and better than ever. Aimed at providing youth ages 6-17 a positive gaming experience, we set aside space specifically for them and their families. Programming includes the three modules of lessons: Beginner, Advanced, and Transitions, which introduce the game from the ground up and prepare the players for running characters in the Pathfinder Society, as well as Pathfinder Society Scenarios selected from prior season's catalogs. Adults are welcome at Pathfinder Society Academy tables as long as they accompany a youth. For their safety and enjoyment, children ages 6-12 must have a parent who remains at the Pathfinder Society Academy area. Youth ages 13-15 must have a parent in the Sagamore Ballroom and youth aged 16-17 need a way to contact a parent onsite in case of emergency.

If playing games doesn't pique your interest, consider attending one of the Paizo panels. The first seminar starts Thursday at 11:00 AM and run through Sunday at noon. Topics include returning favorites like Ask the Paizo GMs, Writing for Paizo, Pathfinder Rules Q&A, and Aunty Lisa's Story Hour. New offerings this year include Making your First Starfinder Character, Starfinder Rules Design Workshop, Secrets of the Pact Worlds, and Starfinder Adventure Path Q&A. Come learn all the secrets of your favorite games!

Whew! I knew we offered quite a few activities at Gen Con, but it wasn't until I was trying to select which to highlight in this blog that I realized how great programming is available. I couldn't touch on everything, so I urge you to check out the Gen Con catalog and search keyword Paizo.

Over the past couple of weeks, we had some changes in Sagamore Ballroom leadership. Jon Cary, a stalwart presence for many years, stepped back from the role and Bob Jonquet is spearheading efforts. We added Walter Sheppard to the team to make up for Jon's departure. Rounding out the executive team is Lucas Servideo and Todd Morgan. Thank you to Jon for his many years spent planning and executing Pathfinder Society events at Gen Con. Enjoy seeing the show this year!

For those whose travel plans are undecided, we still need GM assistance, including a handful of Tier 1 positions. The team and I spent the past weeks contacting those that already signed up and are working on scheduling those individuals for events. You should have schedule information before ticket sales go live on the 28th. Watch your inbox for correspondence. If you are interested in GMing at the event, complete the questionnaire and we will be in contact shortly.

Also for GMs, Origins Game Fair is also still looking for individuals to fill some slots at the convention held June 14 to 19 in Columbus, Ohio. Interested volunteers should sign up by sending Venture-Captain Michael McNerney an email at ohiopfs@gmail.com.

I look forward to seeing many of you at PaizoCon in just over a week. If you're attending, please stop by the Grand Ballroom and say hi! Just remember, there are few strangers in gaming, but many friends you haven't met yet!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Season of the Plundered Tombs, The Story So Far

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

We are officially halfway through the Season of Plundered Tombs!

Brave Pathfinder Agents have investigated lost tombs, translated hidden runes, smashed undead guardians, and dispersed elementals, all in service to the Pathfinder Society. There may have been some amount of plundering also happening, based on the fine historic artifacts exhibited by those agents, but that is clearly secondary to the far more altruistic pursuit of knowledge.

BEWARE: Spoilers Ahead. You were warned.

Adventure 1: Serpents in the Deep

First, you earned the appreciation of many local merchants by ridding the world of a tribe of Gnoll bandits. You then snuck into the Aspis Consortium's dig site to appropriate their research. Unfortunately, you weren't the only person with this idea. You were soon hot in pursuit of a Taldan spy. That pursuit led you to dive into the underwater ruin of Shotep-Kara. There, a doru div turned the city's constructs and elemental wards against you. Eventually, you overcame all obstacles, defeated the Taldan (twice!), and recovered a set of ancient tablets. The tablets proved to be a map to an ancient pyramid capable of flight. Possession of such a sky pyramid could greatly assist the Pathfinder Society. It slipping into the wrong hands might give enough power to terrorize thousands and destabilize nations.

Fantastic archaeological wonder or best Pathfinder Lodge ever?

Adventure 2: Secrets Below the Sands

Outnumbered and outmaneuvered by the Aspis Consortium, you had no choice but to work with them on locating the pyramid. You put together an expedition, despite the best efforts of a number of thieves, and set out into the desert. There, you were not so gently greeted by quicksand and pairaka divs. You then rescued elementals from enslavement by undead and used their help to excavate the buried pyramid. Inside the pyramid, you carefully worked past its traps and defenders to discover its secrets. Alas, your alliance with the Aspis Consortium then came to a crashing end and you were forced to flee the pyramid.

The Aspis sure were useful when they weren't trying to kill you...

Adventure 3: In Search of a Sage

With the pyramid seized by the traitorous Aspis Consortium, you realized you were going to need some assistance—specifically, the kind of assistance only an ancient Jeweled Sage can give. You searched the forgotten (and very trapped) stacks of the sages' stronghold and set out on the trail of the Spinel Sage, Mnesoset. In Katapesh, you ran into and promptly removed some more gnoll brigands, then bargained with Grandmaster Torch, an infamous information broker. With his advice, you allied with the alchemists of the Hidden Flame to follow the sage's trail past lamias and summoned sandstorms to a Thriae Hive. At the hive, you made a fateful decision to assist either your new alchemist friends or their thriae victims.

Those sandstorms sure packed a punch.

Adventure 4: Tomb of the Godless Host

Now, the fourth adventure in this path kicks off at full speed, with a PACG chase to escape the Rahadoum Pure Legion. From there, you'll get to tangle with divs (yet again) and Jistkan constructs of all kinds in your quest to find the Spinel Sage.

Those Jistkans really made some amazing golems. I'm sure this one's friendly, too.

Plus, you might finally learn something about that Mythopoeic Sphinx you've been wondering about. Maybe not everything, but something.

After that, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to reclaiming the flying pyramid the Aspis Consortium stole from you. Smooth sailing from here on out. Yep.

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Developer

News Flash! Adventure Card Guild Gets Retail Incentive Program!

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Adventure Card Game blog to announce some exciting news! Last September, the Pathfinder Society unveiled a Retail Incentive Program for the Roleplaying Guild, aimed at rewarding purchases made at Friendly Local Game Stores or other retail establishments that offer Pathfinder Society space for games. At the time, we indicated that we'd look at options for an Adventure Card Guild version. The RPG Incentive Program concludes its fourth month in a few days, and it has proven well-received by players and stores alike. We are now pleased to announce the launch of the Adventure Card Guild version of the Retail Incentive Program.

Constructive feedback is vital to programs like this, in that it allows us to evaluate our offerings and make changes where necessary. Any feedback may be sent to pathfindersociety@paizo.com or posted in the discussion thread below.

Adventure Card Guild Retail Incentive Program

This program is designed to encourage players to reward retail locations that are providing space for Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild players. Locations utilizing the program should advertise its presence to their clientele. We realize that each location is unique, and has an overriding right to determine what is best for their business, so participation in this program is not mandatory. In cases where the specifics of the program don't align well with the retail's procedures (for example, if they don't provide receipts, or they run daily tabs), the event coordinator should work with the retailer to best approximate the intent of the policy.

Game stores and other retail locations are an important part of the Pathfinder Society community, and it's important to support them so that they continue to provide support for Pathfinder Society play. Under this program, players can redeem receipts in exchange for modest benefits for the entire party.

Redeeming a receipt simply involves showing it to the event coordinator, who marks the receipt to denote that it was used. A player can only use a receipt in this way on the day of the purchase, and only for an event at that venue. The receipt need not include Paizo products—any products the venue sells count as qualifying purchases. Players cannot acquire or redeem receipts during their own turn or during any player's encounter; otherwise, players can acquire and redeem receipts during play only when doing so does not significantly disrupt gameplay.

If the combined value of the receipts redeemed by players at the table exceeds $10, all of the characters at the table receive the ongoing benefit described below, and each character chooses one of the single-use benefits described below. If the combined value exceeds $50, you may use the enhanced version of the applicable benefits instead. (In countries that use currencies other than US Dollars, use approximate equivalents of $10 and $50; don't worry too much about figuring out the exact exchange rate.) The ongoing benefit lasts for up to 5 hours, and each character may use their chosen one-time benefit once in each scenario played during those 5 hours. Characters can only receive these benefits once during any 5-hour block.

Ongoing Benefit (for all characters)

Harder to Kill: When you reset your hand, you may treat your hand size as 1 lower.
Enhanced Version: When you reset your hand, you may treat your hand size as 2 lower.

Single-Use Benefits (each character chooses one)

Cheaper Boons: Add 1d6 to your check to acquire.
Enhanced Version: Add 2d6 to your check to acquire.

Recover from Wounds: Recharge a random card from your discard pile.
Enhanced Version: Recharge 2 random cards from your discard pile.

Bonus Wealth: Draw 1 card.
Enhanced Version: Draw 2 cards.

The benefits gained from this program are in addition to benefits such as the Accessory Perks referred to in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide or on Pathfinder Society Rerolls page on paizo.com.

The Adventure Card Guild Guide and the Policies page have been updated to include this program information.

Thanks to Vic, Mike, Keith, and the rest of the Sharks for letting me guest blog and share the news with our Adventure Card Game players. I'm excited about the program and cannot wait to hear stories from the field!

May you draw only boons!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

'Tis the Season of Plundered Tombs

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Illustration by Maichol Quinto
Look, these tombs aren't just going to plunder themselves.

The Season of Plundered Tombs is upon us! Season 3 of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild just kicked off last week, so it's a good time to discuss the many horrible fun things we have planned for it!

To integrate the Adventure Card Guild with the Roleplaying Guild as part of the overall Pathfinder Society, the ACG players are now Pathfinder agents, as explained in the introduction the season, authored by John Compton:

Among the region's most influential archaeological operations is the Pathfinder Society, an international league of explorers and adventurers dedicated to discovering and chronicling the world's mysteries. You recently completed your training as a Pathfinder agent in Absalom and set out for Osirion, dreaming of the ancient secrets buried beneath the sands and stone.

The archaeological wealth of all Osirion will be yours to explore. What you uncover might not just change your fortunes; it could change the world!

You're going to get a chance to interact with many groups and characters familiar to the Pathfinder Society. First among these is the Aspis Consortium, a mercantile organization known for its ability to sniff out amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities without all the burden of scrupulous practices. The Mummy's Mask Base Set includes several cards that have the Aspis trait, so you'll get a chance to take full advantage of these extremely useful (and sometimes costly) allies.

PFS players might recognize these Aspis agents from Destiny of the Sands.

Relatively early in the season, you'll interact with the Aspis trader Falsin Deek. Traders have a special role in Adventure Card Guild scenarios:

We like you so much, we wrote the trader rules TWICE.

This change is great for the Adventure Card Guild because it lets you start each scenario with a card that's not in your class deck, and helps you bring the flavor of Mummy's Mask to your Class Deck. This is particularly important given the curses, the triggers, and the scads of elemental damage—all things for which your deck might not be entirely ready.

There are a couple other interesting ways we get to play with mechanics from Mummy's Mask. For example, have you wondered about that Defensive Stance card in the Base Set box? It will be a while yet before you'll use it in the Mummy's Mask Adventure Path, but you'll get to use it early in Adventure 2 of Season of Plundered Tombs. Are you getting used to defending against poison damage in Mummy's Mask? Well, the enemies in Season of Plundered Tombs are a little more chaotic and destructive, so are ready to use all kinds of damage types to trigger nasty scourges.

One of the most contentious tasks for the Pathfinder Society and Adventure Card Game teams in development of this season was in choosing a name. Initially, we assumed it'd be "Season of the Mummy," to match up with the name of the box set. But it turns out the story we wanted to tell, while full of Osirion goodies, wasn't really about mummies in particular. We also want to move away from one-word season names—we certainly don't want any more season names to be abbreviated "SotR" after Season of the Righteous and Season of the Runelords! (Always helpful, Mike suggested "Season of Thundered Rooms.")

We went back and forth on a number of names, but the decision eventually came down to simple planning for the future. We want to make a lot more seasons, so switching to two-word season names gives us a lot more room for expansion. Also, the extremely wise guys at Lone Shark Games immediately stumbled onto "PluTo" as a useful shortening of Plundered Tombs, which lets us be happy with it as an endearing animated pet and once-planet.

Honestly, Liz Spain, Paul Peterson, and Gaby Weidling are a lot more inventive (read: crazy) than I am, so I'm not sure I'll be able to measure up to the zany and bewildering antics of some of their scenarios such as [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and [REDACTED] from Adventure Deck 3: Shifting Sands, but gosh darn it, I'm going to try! Thankfully, Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge conscripted a crack crew of legendary Paizo writers to help generate crazy ideas and write the tasty story bits, in the form of John Compton, Amanda Hamon Kunz, Mark Seifter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

Season of Plundered Tombs contains six adventures with five scenarios each. Adventure titles and expected release dates follow:

1. Serpents in the Deep
2. Secrets below the Sands
3. In Search of a Sage
4. Tomb of the Godless Host
5. The Sepulcher Soars Anew
6. Destruction Descending

As with earlier seasons, scenarios will be released weekly to retailers participating in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild program, as well as to Pathfinder Society Venture-Officers, before becoming available for general sale as compiled adventures.

Here are the planned Venture-Officer and retailer early release dates for each scenario:

11/9/16: Scenario 3-1C
11/16/16: Scenario 3-1D
11/23/16: Scenario 3-1E

11/30/16: Scenario 3-2A
12/7/16: Scenario 3-2B
12/14/16: Scenario 3-2C
12/21/16: Scenario 3-2D, 3-2E

12/28/16: (Holiday)

1/4/17: Scenario 3-3A
1/11/17: Scenario 3-3B
1/18/17: Scenario 3-3C
1/25/17: Scenario 3-3D
2/1/17: Scenario 3-3E

2/8/17: Scenario 3-4A
2/15/17: Scenario 3-4B
2/22/17: Scenario 3-4C
3/1/17: Scenario 3-4D
3/8/17: Scenario 3-4E

3/15/17: Scenario 3-5A
3/22/17: Scenario 3-5B
3/29/17: Scenario 3-5C
4/5/17: Scenario 3-5D
4/12/17: Scenario 3-5E

4/19/17: Scenario 3-6A
4/26/17: Scenario 3-6B
5/3/17: Scenario 3-6C
5/10/17: Scenario 3-6D
5/17/17: Scenario 3-6E

Here are the planned dates for when each Adventure will be available for purchase from paizo.com for everyone:

11/30/16: Adventure 3-1
1/4/17: Adventure 3-2
2/8/17: Adventure 3-3
3/15/17: Adventure 3-4
4/19/17: Adventure 3-5
5/24/17: Adventure 3-6

Enjoy the tomb plundering!

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Designer

OPC Log—18 Lamashan 4716

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

In the Pacific Northwest, our weather turned and rain now envelopes our Redmond office in a mist. Falling temperatures, transitioning leaves, and blustering winds replaced the bright sunshine and warm weather. The rough storms of the past weekend left us tossed about and quite a bit of debris and detritus blown about, but all are accounted for. For other Pathfinders, the inclement weather patterns of the past few months test their resiliency and survival skills. While we have heard from Venture-Officers and players on the eastern seaboard of the US, they still face difficulties with flooding and power outages. Though divided by location and language, we are all one huge family. If possible, where possible, consider offering a helping hand or a dry towel.

Upcoming Conventions

This Friday, I am off to Book & Board convention in Fairlawn, Ohio. Anyone else heading out to conventions? I know of Pathfinder Society events occurring at:

• What-Kahn 2016 (Loves Park, IL)
• ReaperCon 2016 (Lewisville, TX)
• Dan's Con of the Vale (Milwaukee, WI)
• FlatCon 2016 (Bloomington, IL)
• Asheville Scarefest (Black Mountain, NC)

If you're in the Akron area, consider stopping by to say "Hi!"

Adventure Card Guild

Besides rain, October brings with it Mummies! While some may knock on your door during the Halloween festivities, it is the ones arriving by mail or via your Friendly, Local Game Store that I write about. The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Mummy's Mask Base Set releases tomorrow! I peeked at a copy in the office and am excited to get playing. Gorgeous artwork, innovative mechanics, new blessings, and a few surprises brought to us by Mike & Co at Lone Shark Games.

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

With the new base set comes a new Season of Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild play. As I mentioned last week, we changed the naming format this time around. We don't have many mummies in the Adventure Card Guild season, so it seemed a bit of a misnomer. Author Amanda Hamon-Kunz suggested the title Plundered Tombs and we thought it the best fit in describing the season. So we exchanged the working title "Season of the Mummy" for "Season of Plundered Tombs".

As for the tombs themselves, this season involves much more integration with the Pathfinder Society and its associated allies and enemies. The Adventure Path introduction, written by John Compton, finds you landing in Sothis with instructions to report to Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir. As with Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild scenarios, the Pathfinder Lodges provide a backdrop and the Venture-Captains a resource for player interactions in the region. From Sothis, author Mark Seifter takes you on a journey in Adventure 1: Serpents in the Deep. Bet you cannot guess what organization features as the henchmen and villains!

Subsequent adventure authors include Linda Zayas-Palmer, John Compton, and Amanda Hamon-Kunz. They take the story up, down, over and under the northern portion of the continent of Garund. While there, characters meet new allies, uncover secrets, and engage in general pandemonium. All of their text supports adventure design by Keith Richmond of Lone Shark. Other team members include Vic Wertz (editing and development) and Sonja Morris (layout and graphic design). My task is project coordination!

Season of the Goblin

But before we debut Season of Plundered Tombs, we must wrap up Season of the Goblin. The second installment in the mini-Season of the Goblin will release tomorrow, Wednesday, October 19th! This time, our goblin friends engage in even more mayhem and madness trying to determine who is the best goblin of them all!

Upcoming Blog

Next week, John introduces us to the newest Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild adventures—#8-06: Reaping What We Sow and #8-07: From the Tome of Righteous Repose.

Here's the first paragraph John wrote introducing the Season of Plundered Tombs, to give you a taste and whet your appetite:

"Catastrophe struck the world 10,000 years ago, and mighty Osirion was one of the first great nations to rise from the ashes. For centuries, its pharaohs oversaw a golden age of expansion and innovation while crushing rivals such as the Tekritanin League and the golem armies of the Jistka Imperium. Eventually, the kingdom began to stagnate, its leaders unable to match the splendid accomplishments of their forebears. Following millennia of decline and foreign occupation, Osirion is once again autonomous and prospers under the Ruby Prince Khemet III."

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

OPC Log—10 Lamashan 4716

Monday, October 10, 2016

Last week I spent the latter half of the week in Las Vegas on holiday spending my birthday. I appreciated the break and am back, rested and refreshed, to continue working on projects. Over the next few months, I'm traveling to Book & Board Con in Akron, Ohio, and Extra Life in Spokane, Washington. Come out and play!

On the Extra Life front, we have plans abrewing with Zulu Games in Bothell and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. Not ready to release the particulars yet, but we have a few weeks yet before the November 5th event. Keep tuned for more information!

Roleplaying Guild Guide Clarifications

Over the past weeks, the team focused on reviewing the Roleplaying Guild Guide and clarifying some of the ambiguities our industrious players questioned on the forums. There is still work to do, but it is progressing and should soon be ready. One answer we came to almost immediately. From today, the requirement for character wealth contribution to clear conditions when playing pregenerated characters, will only apply to the standard iconic pregenerated characters. Any scenario or module that mandates you play a pregenerated character, like 6-99 Through Maelstrom Rift or We Be Goblins!, will not require the pregenerated character contributions listed in the guide. Refer to the applicable sanctioning documents or chronicle sheet for changes to base resolution costs. For example, We Be Goblins, Too! lists the cost to raise as 5 PP. This change is scheduled to appear in the revised version of the guide.

Adventure Card Guild

We are wrapping up the second installment of Season of the Goblin. I hear the pesky creatures cause mayhem and madness wherever their cards are found. I'm curious to know—which of the characters are your favorite and why?

A week from this Wednesday (October 19th), the Mummy's Mask Base Set for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game releases. Progress on the Adventure Card Guild Season of Plundered Tombs continues at a madcap pace, the team working to pull edges together. We changed the name of the Guild season to differ from the Base Set to emphasize that while Adventure Card Guild utilizes the Mummy's Mask Base Set, it is a stand alone story that doubles playable content.

Upcoming Conventions

I asked some of our convention organizers to put together blurbs about upcoming conventions, so that I could share them with other Pathfinders. If you're looking for a vacation or are in the local area, consider checking out these upcoming conventions!

From VC Alison Ooms, coordinator for Winter War:

Winter War 44, Jan 27-29, 2017 (http://paizo.com/events/v5748mkg0blzn)

We have more than 80 tables of Pathfinder Society scheduled at Winter War. Board games, war games, tabletop gaming of all kinds have been finding a home at Winter War for over 40 years.

Located in Champaign, the heart of Illinois, there are several good ways to get to Winter War. Being held at the Hawthorn Suites again this year, there is plenty of room for new and returning agents. For information on registering to play: http://winterwar.org/ If you would like to volunteer to GM: https://warhorn.net/events/winter-war-44. Events will be posting soon.

Hawthorn Suites
101 Trade Center Dr
Champaign, IL 61820
217-398-3400

For any further information you can contact me:
Alison Ooms (Venture-Captain—Central Illinois
pfs.centralillinois@outlook.com

Or if you're looking for something on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, VC Michael Meunier writes:

MarsCon

MarsCon is one of Virginia's largest SciFi/Fantasy conventions and is being held this year from January 13th to the 15th in beautiful Williamsburg, Virginia. Beyond that, it is also one of the largest gaming events in the state and has served at the primary Pathfinder Society convention for both the Richmond and Hampton Roads lodges for the past three years. This year is particularly interesting as they celebrate the Year of the Dragon (IN SPACE!). While it may not be the biggest event, MarsCon has a knack for getting some very interesting guests and really entertaining musical groups. What MarsCon is really known for though is it's atmosphere as there's a lively party scene and a number of laid back events as well as a very well stocked Con Suite. Beyond the con there are all the sights, sounds, and shopping that Williamsburg has to offer.

Well, back to reviewing the Guide. I hope everyone had a great weekend playing Pathfinder and that dice rolled well!

Until next week—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Get Ready to be Goblified

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Last year, while planning the class deck schedule, a most Gobtastic plan was concocted. In addition to supporting Organized Play using Ranzak, Ekkie, and our newest promo goblin Tup, we could create playable versions of all the main goblins from the We Be Goblins! RPG modules. To celebrate, we could also do a short Season of the Goblins (then called "We Be Card Goblins!") based on the first couple of adventures. Little did we realize that two of our coolest fans, Tyler Beck (cartmanbeck on the boards) and David Jacobson (aka Theryon Stormrune), would beat us to it. When we at Lone Shark Games saw their work, we knew there was absolutely no point to us redoing it for Season of the Goblins. But let's hear it directly from them!

David: Back before there was a DriveThruCards custom Card Creator and before there was a Skull & Shackles Base Set, I had wanted to take the We Be Goblins! module and turn it into a card game adventure. Unfortunately without the ability to create cards, my vision was limited on how to proceed. My thoughts turned to proxying cards but that wasn't practical on the required scale. Over a year passed and through the HawkCon meetings, I met Tyler Beck. Somehow the subject came up and I found a kindred spirit. Now, Tyler is a creative fiend. He loves to throw ideas onto "paper." I soon discovered that he had a lot more done with We Be Goblins! than I had. So I started working with him to polish and fit the work into the current structure of the game. And around that point, the Card Creator came online, allowing us to create some of the proxy cards we needed to bring the adventure to life.

Tyler: While David was designing his version of We Be Goblins! for Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, I unknowingly was working on a very similar idea. I had decided that PACG is fun, and goblins are fun, and so PACG plus goblins would be even more fun! By June 2015, I had started writing card text, and by the time July rolled around, I was finished with my first draft of the scenarios, as well as five goblin characters. I decided that I wanted to do something more with them than just play with my friends: I would go to PaizoCon and run the game there! I emailed Tanis and asked her if she'd be interested in writing up a special boon for those who play in my special goblin-themed games at PaizoCon, and she was tentatively excited about the idea. Once I ran into David at the HawkCon event, I knew I had the perfect person to get my crazy ideas boiled down into really clean card text, and we started working together on the cards. David's meticulous editing made a huge difference, and we quickly had a great set of scenarios all printed up, and we went into playtesting mode. We each ran the game for our friends, and everyone had a blast (especially those who played Mogmurch)! Eventually Tanis acquiesced to my idea of making the event a sanctioned game, and she ended up writing up an absolutely amazing special boon for those who would play in our game at PaizoCon. Unfortunately, I found that I would not be able to attend PaizoCon, and all would be lost... except that I had an excellent proxy!

Wait, not those proxies.

David: A couple months before PaizoCon 2016, Tyler asked me if I would run the We Be Goblins! event at PaizoCon. It was my first PaizoCon, but we had put in a lot of time into our work and I wanted to make sure it was a success. So I agreed. We'd have three sessions with two tables each session: one run by me, one by Tanis. I kept reading about it in the blogs leading up to PaizoCon. It made me nervous and excited. Tyler and I kept creating and refining our cards with the Card Creator, and then had two finished sets made. Then I got to Seattle and it was a big success. The players enjoyed the adventure and gave us great feedback. I changed a few things between sessions based on what people thought and how it played. I think that was one of the most important things about the journey of our work. So I made notes and headed back home. We had planned on creating a second adventure based on We Be Goblins Too!

Even got Gaby "goblified"!

But Paizo's Season of the Goblins had been announced, apparently making our work (and future work on the second adventure) moot. So Tyler and I started working immediately on our other ideas. Again, his creative madness had started and I was just trying to keep pace with the new adventure.

Tyler: Then we got tapped on the shoulder as Lone Shark was planning on adapting the We Be Goblins! module for the mini-season. They had seen our work and realized that it would be a great starting point. So we were asked if we'd be willing to contribute to the design of the Season of the Goblins! mini-season, and we were happy to take on the challenge. One major question was how to make it work with Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild play. We had designed these scenarios to be played with goblin characters, but for organized play, any legal character would need to be allowed. David came up with the idea that any non-goblin character may have been transformed into a goblin by the work of the dark deity Lamashtu, and we were off! We had designed these scenarios to be played with a mountain of custom cards, including custom goblin characters and decks, boons like allies Bruthazmus and Goblin Raider, and banes like the monster Shopkeep's Daughter and henchman Ven Vinder. PFSACG play would be problematic if every table needed so many custom cards, so we pared it down to only the most useful cards. Then we sent it over to Keith Richmond to do his magic.

David: And then it was time to head to Indianapolis for Gen Con. Again, I wondered how it was going to look and how it was going to play. Tyler and I hadn't seen a copy of the adventure yet. I had signed up to play sessions of Season of the Goblins! as well as volunteer in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game section of the Sagamore ballroom. And just like at PaizoCon, it was a big hit. Paizo had wanted to limit the tables to 4 players, but every session had 5 to 6 players per table with three tables having been "goblified" as we called it. The changes that Keith had made were a perfect match to the original material and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. People had fun. The new characters from the Goblins Fight! and Goblins Burn! decks played well alongside other class deck characters.

But at least for me, nothing really matched the excitement of hearing that Mike Selinker liked our original work, and seeing our names at the top of the credits page. It makes all the work worth it: the hours reading and re-reading our adventure and card text, getting cards printed and reprinted, playtesting and fixing this card or that card.

Keith: I want to thank Tyler and David again for being great fans and playtesters, whose excitement and hard work led to a fun event at PaizoCon and made this season a breeze to develop. I like to think I've added a couple cool twists, like "Goblifying" the boxes by shuffling in the Goblins Fight! and Goblins Burn! cards if you have them, and rewarding access to the goblin promos, but the overwhelming bulk of the work is theirs. The first adventure of Season of the Goblins, We Be Goblins! is available now. We Be (Card) Goblins Too! will be available sometime in the next month. Enjoy the Gobbling!

Tyler Beck, David Jacobson, and Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Contributors and Adventure Card Game Designer

Illustrations by James Martin and Jeff Carlisle
War! Huh. Yeah, it's pretty good for us.

P.S.: Aside from all the Goblin happenings, September sees the release of the Warpriest Class Deck. To pique your interest, gaze upon some of the awesome art.

OPC Log—30 Arodus, 4716

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Hello from Redmond! After weeks of travel I'm back at the Paizo office, catching up on events and developments in the world of Pathfinder. Which accounts for the lateness of this blog, as I tried to touch base and get a status report on some ongoing projects.

So, a few updates!

Pathfinder Society Academy

Thank you to all the volunteers that ran Pathfinder Society Academy events at Gen Con! The youth had a blast and the program received some great attention. In reviewing the feedback, there are a few tweaks we need to make to the program before rolling it out to the general public. So we are pushing back release by a month or two to make sure it is the best program we can offer. For those conventions hoping to run it in the interim, email me and we can discuss options.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild Season of the Runelords Adventures 5 & 6

With the departure of Tanis and my extended absence from the office, we had another hiccup in the release schedule. I apologize profusely for the delay and can only say that the goblins have really made a mess of things. We are looking at timelines, processes, and workflow so to minimize (and hopefully remove) the issues that arose this season.

Venture-Officer Appointments/Information Corrections

Now that I am back in the office I can get working on adding volunteers to the Venture-Officer team and updating contact information. If you sent me an email, I am working my way through the requests in the order they were received. For those submitting applications to join the team, I am reviewing them as well and will be in touch as soon as possible. I thank everyone for their patience!

Roleplaying Guild Guide Revision

There is a Guide revision in the works. Thank you to the members of the community who sent feedback on the new format or identified issues. The team is aware of the feedback threads on the forums and the opinions expressed therein. Sifting through the posts and emails will take some time, as well as working the revision into our schedules, so we do not have an anticipated release date, but it will be sooner than the launch of Season 9!

PAX West

Pathfinder Society will be out in force at PAX West this weekend at the Washington State Convention Center, Rooms 201-203. There are still volunteer openings available on Friday Night, Sunday Night, and Monday. If interested, contact Venture-Lieutenant Louis Manko Levite.

Upcoming Events

I'm going to start spotlighting events in the weekly blog. Currently, I am looking at events in December/January, to give enough time for people interested in attending to book travel and accomodations. If you would like your event featured on the blog, please send a one to two paragraph summary of the particulars, including what, where, when, and who to contact for more information to pathfindersociety@paizo.com.

As a corollary, the Pathfinder Society team is putting together our 2017 travel schedule. If you are hosting a convention and would like a member of the team as a special guest at your event, please email pathfindersociety@paizo.com with the particulars. Many factors go into planning our schedules and the more information we have, the easier to plan.

Lots more irons in the fire, but I'm going to pause here for today. For those traveling, stay safe. And remember: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Gen Con and Thanks for All the Fish

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Gen Con 2016 is in the books (and Delta's computer failure gave me and many other Paizonians a lovely bonus day or two in the fabulous airport waiting areas of Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and/or Salt Lake City) and what a show it was! Demos of the upcoming Mummy's Mask Base Set were a huge hit in the exhibit hall, with 10 tables of action running basically at capacity for four straight days. Many thanks to Dominick Trascritti and his skilled demo team for giving fans old and new an excellent introduction to Mummy's Mask.

Action in the Sagamore Ballroom was also hopping, with the Adventure Card Guild area serving up more tables of Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild play than ever before. We showcased the epic final adventures of Season of the Runelords. We debuted the insane Season of the Goblins, written by Tyler Beck, David Jacobson, and Keith Richmond... and let's just say that people were not expecting to eat that many slugs. (For those of you who didn't make it to Gen Con, these adventures will be available for sale soon!)

We debuted a multimodal special event, The Cosmic Captive, mixing RPG and ACG tables to great effect. We got a ton of great feedback on how to improve the ACG side of future such events, so thank you all for being our guinea pigs on that. Venture-Lieutenant Kevin Hanley and his phenomenal volunteer staff did a spectacular job marshaling and managing the area, as well as the trial by fire that was running multiple tables simultaneously. (The Cosmic Captive will be available exclusively to conventions for the next year.) It was a privilege and a pleasure to work with so many enthusiastic and talented Pathfinder Society folk this year. (To my Special GMs: JUMP!)

We also brought back the ACG Open for a second year, to the delight and chagrin of dedicated players. This year's tournament, "The Cayden Cailean Way," took 64 players through a variety of tests in honor of the Lucky Drunk. In case you need to be terrified, this year's event had rounds written by Chad Brown, Keith Richmond, and Mike Selinker, with a little synthesis done by yours truly. The final round featured last year's runner-up team, Level 5, against an upstart team of pick-up players called Team One. Both teams completed the final scenario within one minute of each other, but Team One won the day with a higher overall score. Level 5, I am rooting for you to level up next year!

The 2016 Adventure Card Game Open finalists.

This year's Gen Con (my nineteenth, yipes!) was bittersweet for me, because it marked an ending and a beginning for me. I'm starting a new adventure this fall: nursing school. Unfortunately, the demands of school and the demands of ACG players are a little too much to handle at once, so I'm bidding farewell to Paizo's hallowed halls. I leave the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in the capable hands of Vic and the Sharks, and the Adventure Card Guild in the capable hands of Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge. Being a member of the ACG and Pathfinder Society teams has been a joy, and I couldn't ask for better stewards.

Thank you all for allowing me to strain your brains and add fun to your days with the Class Decks and the Adventure Card Guild. I've really enjoyed doing it, and I look forward to playing with you all at a convention soon. Onward to adventure!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Lock and Load!: The Gunslinger Class Deck Preview

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Players who joined us last week at Gen Con had an early opportunity to play the Gunslinger, but for those who missed the mayhem, I'm here to deliver everything you need to know about the Gunslinger Class Deck.

One of the first steps I took when preparing to work on the Gunslinger deck was to get my research on. I pored through historical documents (internet wiki) as well as the Pathfinder RPG rules with a singular quest: identify all of the guns we could possibly have, then stuff them all in the class deck. You'll have a full array of lower-technology options such as the Matchlock Hackbut, Wheellock Pistol, and Hand Cannon, as well as examples of the higher end of gunsmithing that Alkenstar might have to offer, by way of the Revolver, Shotgun, and Rifle.

One shot, many kills.

Some of you might be wondering about that Alkenstar reference. Alkenstar is a city-state on the border of the Mana Wastes. Having to survive in that harsh magic-dead region, the alchemists and engineers of Alkenstar invented firearms. In fact, the kingdom still controls the supply of firearms to the rest of Golarion, with 90% of the firearms in the world remaining within its borders. All three of the characters in the Gunslinger Class Deck are from Alkenstar.

Look, ma: no Divine.

Some of you might think of our iconic gunslinger Lirianne as a buccaneer, due to her presence in Skull & Shackles. The Class Deck version of Lirianne focuses more on her history as a shield marshal from Alkenstar that has been flung far from home. Mechanically, she specializes in always having the right gun in hand and making the most of its powers, as well as self-sufficiency to make her a more appealing solo option.

There's a reason she has marshal stars on her holsters.

Each of the three gunslingers in the deck takes inspiration from one of the Gunslinger archetypes in the RPG. Far from home, Lirianne is now a mysterious stranger who roams from adventure to adventure righting wrongs. That inspired me to write a short bit of doggerel (preferably read in your best Sam Elliott impression), which didn't quite fit into the flavor text box for the Mysterious Stranger role card:

When the bad times come, your life's in danger
Then appears the mysterious stranger
Tip of her hat and six shots of her gun
On to her next stop, 'cause your problem's done.

Bring it.

Our next gunslinger was inspired by the Gun Tank archetype. Angban is a dwarf from Dongun Hold, the dwarven fortress in Alkenstar that invented firearms. He is a master of long guns and armor both, making steady progress against the toughest of foes.

Oh, it's already been brought'n.

The third gunslinger is a ratfolk Gulch Gunner whose story is intertwined with Angban's. Both participated gloriously in the Battle of the Warrens, but Skizza's glory has a very different flavor indeed. Skizza is known for his use of bombs and fire, and other alchemical toys. He is tremendously effective, but not the safest of companions.

Not safe for children. Or Veterans.

The class deck includes plenty of new cards, including a new cycle: Ammunition. Like gunslingers in the RPG, card game gunslingers now have the ability to sift through an array of possible options to maximize their shots-to-kill ratios.

Pathfinder really has the most amazing artists, and Gunslinger was the first set in which I personally composed the art order. It was a true high note of my time as a game designer to see the results, so I want to end with callouts to some of my favorite pieces. You can see Ekaterina Burmak's fantastic treatment of Angban above, which delivered on absolutely every detail of my concept and then some. Two other awesome pieces were ally cards done by Suzanne Helmigh:

Illustrations by Suzanne Helmigh

The Gunslinger Class Deck is available August 31. And if you don't already have a Class Deck subscription, there's still time to start your sub with Goblins Fight! and Goblins Burn! and get a pile of goblin promo cards alongside them!

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Designer

Goblins, Promo Cards, and the Adventure Card Guild

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Short blog this week as preparation for Gen Con intensifies! Starting next week, all promo characters will be legal for play in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild organized play program. This means Ranzak, Ekkie, and Tup will be able to join in the fun at your local game store, convention, or even home play of the various Adventure Card Guild seasons.

Ranzak, the Skull & Shackles promo character, must be played with the Goblins Fight! Deck. Here's a suggested starting deck list for him:

Blowgun
Dagger
Dart
Hand Crossbow
Confusion
Doghide Armor
Alchemist's Fire
Beehive
Caltrops
Thieves' Tools
Reformarium Servant
Blessing of the Gobs x4

Ekkie, the Wrath of the Righteous promo character, also must be played with the Goblins Fight! Deck. Here's her suggested starting deck list:

Dogslicer
Sickle
Torch
Stalking Armor
Alchemist's Fire
Beehive
Caltrops
Potion of Striding
Frog
Spider
Vulture
Blessing of the Gobs x4

Finally, we've got the terrible Tup, the Rise of the Runelords promo character. He must be played with the Goblins Burn! Deck. Here's a suggested starting deck list for Tup:

Dogslicer
Bloodscent*
Burning Snot
Detect Magic
Immolate
Oozikinesis*
Buckler
Alchemist's Fire
Conch Shell
Potion of Beast Skin
Frilled Lizard
Turtle
Blessing of the Gobs x3

* Indicates a non-Basic card with the B set indicator

I look forward to seeing tables of Ekkie, Ranzak, and Tup destroying scenarios at Gen Con next week! Remember that you need physical character cards to play, not just a printed character sheet.

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Season of the Runelords—The Story So Far

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Time to catch you up on the story so far in Season of the Runelords! (There be plot spoilers below.) While I'm discussing SotRu, allow me to apologize for the persistent delays in its release schedule. We're working hard to improve the process for subsequent products, and the entirety of the season will be available for play at Gen Con.

The season begins with a lowly party of wannabe adventurers banding together to visit the town of Sandpoint, with an eye toward becoming famous heroes like those who defeated Karzoug, the ancient Runelord of Greed. (This adventure is loosely based on the events of the Pathfinder: Dark Waters Rising comics by Jim Zub.) Sandpoint being Sandpoint, you run into some nasty, filthy goblins before you even get into town. These particular goblins are even more disgusting than usual: they're covered in oozing, mottled pustules that have a tendency to pop.

After you dispatch the goblins, you barely make it into the city limits before the mayor turns you around and sends you after the black dragon who's treating Sandpoint's cattle farms as his personal all-you-can-eat buffet. Unfortunately, instead of vanquishing Black Fang and saving the day, you just make him really mad and he swears vengeance against the town. Being a hero is not as easy as it looks.

In an attempt to curry favor with the town council, you investigate the matter of the mutated goblins, and discover that someone's been up to no good in the wilds around town. After suffering goblin explosions of various types, you discover that a devotee of Lamashtu has set up her own mutant gobbo factory as a first course, feeding the goblins some sort of heinous potion to turn them explode-y. The main dish will be her spawning some sort of abomination linked to the Mother of Monsters. It's nice when it's easy to tell what the right course of action is, huh?

With the Lamashtu-spawn and its incubator taken care of, you return to Sandpoint to find the council member who led you into the goblin trap. Turns out he's the manipulator behind all the shenanigans, and he needs a good thumping before he uses some of the aforementioned potion on the dragon that's got it in for the town. It would be great if you could stop him before that happens, wouldn't it?

Ah, well. Beating down mutant dragons is good practice for heroes like you.

Having saved/wrecked the town of Sandpoint, you feel ready for a greater challenge/would like to avoid being run out of town on a rail, so you make for Magnimar, famed City of Secrets. (This adventure is inspired by the City of Secrets comics, also by Jim Zub.) You arrive just in time for Xanderghul's Night (he was the Runelord of Pride) and just in time to save a wedding from some demonic party crashers.

Your convenient heroics bring you into the orbit of Lieutenant Kasadei of the City Watch, who has a number of tasks for irregulars with good instincts and timing. Kasadei sends you into Underbridge, a promising-sounding area of Magnimar, where some rogues' guilds are having a bit of a turf war. Your diplomatic abilities, though rusty, should prove sufficient to the task of fairly divvying up whatever they're fighting over.

Next up is an investigation into some shapechanging shenanigans, in which some prominent local citizens are being impersonated. Turns out the creepy doctor with the sanatorium is behind it all, which is completely shocking. The prominent local citizens are pleased with your work, so you are promoted to guarding a special exhibit at the Museum of Ages from the expected assaults of some Cultists of the Crimson Eye. The Pathfinder Society (and local luminary Sheila Heidmarch) are pleased with your work, and remunerate you well. Time to head to Hollow Mountain!

Well, once you figure out who's murdering all these priests of Sarenrae, anyway.

Ever since you decided to become heroes, you've had your eye on Hollow Mountain. It's imposing, it's isolated, and the top of it is carved to resemble Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath, who is said to have reigned over her territory from the mountain itself. (This adventure is loosely based on the encounters at the end of each Hollow Mountain comic by various awesome authors.)

You pay a ship's captain to drop you off on the shores of Rivenrake Island, home to both the Mountain and the ruins of an old Thassilonian city, Xin-Bakrakhan. Time to plunder the ruins for sweet loot! Surely everything that lived here died a long time ago.

Wrong. Wrong. You were wrong about everything here being dead. This place has angry, angry inhabitants. Because you're mighty adventurers, you triumphed, but that was not a pleasant experience. Some things you can't unsee. Still, you found a passageway that heads down into the stone, and therefore theoretically into Hollow Mountain. Heroic stories tell you that secret ways are better ways for exploring, so you set off.

Hey, this cavern has a big tower in it! Towers mean mages, which means pricy magic items and other valuables. As it turns out, it also means some sort of clockwork sentries and a nasty tower guardian. The cavern also has other stuff in it, and it messes with your stuff and tries to kill you, because that's the sort of place this is. This is what you wanted: adventure and danger and glory. You repeat that to yourself as you wipe splattered polyp and fungal spores off your face. Soon, you'll be inside the mountain, and you'll make your bones and feature in all the bard's songs.

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Goblins Again?!

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Before I jump into this week's preview of the upcoming Goblins Burn! deck, I would like to mention that several Paizo products have been nominated for ENnie awards, including the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Card Game Base Set. I encourage you to visit the ENnies 2016 Election page to cast your votes.

On to Goblins Burn! Three new goblin characters appear in this deck. Mogmurch earned his title of arsonist through his love of bombs and other thrown substances, burning a wide swath through his enemies. Poog, warcaster of the Licktoad tribe, goes everywhere with his trusty toad, Flybreath, and his prior pet, Dogfinder, calling on the blessings of Zarongel to see him through tough spots. And Zibini tells fortunes for a living, looking into her trusty crystal ball for what is to come. Be careful not to rouse her to anger, for her piercing gaze gives a headache to even the toughest goblins.

The characters in Goblins Burn! largely rely on spells to seize the day. One such spell, Burning Snot, really captures the essence of goblin spellcasting: take a deep breath and let it fly! Another awesome spell, Oozikinesis, allows the caster to cover anything in slime. Boon or bane, the goo gets them all!

Of course, spells aren't going to solve every problem. For those times the characters just cannot get out of the way, there are pot helms and horn armor to save their hides. These prime examples of goblin ingenuity and dumpster diving are made from only the finest junk—the helmet even doubles as a stewpot!

There are also plenty of new items to capture the goblin spirit. For those in need of a bit of extra assistance, the Skill Slug is a tasty treat that really helps out. And as with Goblins Fight!, each goblin has a frog ally.

Illustration by Javier Charro

Grab a copy of Goblins Burn! to bring an exciting twist to any Adventure Path or Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild event!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

PaizoCon 2016 Pathfinder Society Announcements

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

PaizoCon 2016 has come to a close, but the Pathfinder Society team is gearing up for tons of new programs and material that we showed off at the Paizo Preview Banquet Saturday evening. Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge announced these to a packed ballroom, and today I'd like to share the news with you.

Pathfinder Society Academy

What better way is there to begin a blog than with a great way to begin one's roleplaying experience? Back in January, Tonya first announced Pathfinder Academy, an expansion of the "Kid's Track" games offered at Gen Con for the past several years. We've since contracted authors for new scenarios, worked with Venture-Captains Michael VonHasseln and Lucas Servideo to create new lesson plans, and have a complete set of new quests on the way for eager young gamers to play. These will debut at Gen Con, and afterward we're exploring ways to distribute these adventures to convention organizers to provide kid-friendly content at events worldwide. In addition, we are working on a scenario rating system that identifies adult themes and ways to adjust the scenarios for our younger players.

As a sign of things to come, we're excited to share the new product's temporary logo (still a work in progress)!

Adventure Card Guild

There's a lot in the pipeline for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild. A few weeks ago, Tanis announced the upcoming Season of the Goblin (or, We Be Card Goblins, as it's affectionally referred to in-house), which not only provides use two months of goblin carnage but also ties into the upcoming Goblins Fight! and Goblins Burn! Class Decks. Tanis tends to giggle evilly and then show off preview art every time we bring up this topic, so it's only right that we introduce you to one of the upcoming goblin "heroes," Zibini, the Great and Goobly. As you might guess from her art, she's a powerful diviner able to foretell what goblins will fight and what they will burn—which is to say everything. Season of the Goblin will combine Tanis' dastardly mechanics with story from author Jason Keeley, whose work most recently featured in #7-23 Abducted in Aether.

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

As the Season of the Goblin winds to a close, the long-anticipated Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Mummy's Mask will be hitting the shelves. Once it does, we'll be launching the Season of the Mummy, sending Pathfinders into the tombs of Osirion to do battle with the evils that sleep beneath the sands.

Finally, PaizoCon was an excellent opportunity to refine and introduce special convention rewards for playing the Adventure Card Guild at conventions. For about five years, the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild has offered special "convention boons" at registered events of 15 sessions or more. Last year Tanis and I worked together to create a handful of similar rewards—can't quite call them boons, as that's an existing game term—to distribute at Gen Con, and we've since honed the process to present a set of special rewards for each season of Guild play. We're especially proud of not only the smaller page format (much easier to pack alongside your Class Deck) but also of the thematic tie-ins to the season. At PaizoCon you may have spotted the Thassilonian Ritual rewards, which allow your character to gain a long-term benefit at the cost of leaving her vulnerable to that sin's foibles. We're designating several of these for distribution to events worldwide, and several are going to be special rewards available at only a handful of conventions such as PaizoCon, PaizoCon UK, Gen Con, and Origins.

Roleplaying Guild

Finally, we announced the next season of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: Year of the Stolen Storm. The organized play program has always been an excellent way to present adventures in a wide variety of places, including those yet to be seen in Adventure Paths or Modules. With this mission, the Society has extensively—but not exhaustively—explored the Inner Sea region over the past eight years, but beyond regular visits to Tian Xia and the Hao Jin Tapestry demiplane, it has traveled beyond this region only rarely. For years I've looked for ways to dabble in some extraplanar travel, and for Season 8 I proposed not just dipping the Society's toes in the water but diving in completely.

During the Year of the Stolen Storm, the Society turns its sights to the Elemental Planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. There, agents can not only recover extraordinary treasures but also embroil themselves in extraplanar politics and clash with otherworldly organizations. Over the course of the season, we've planned at least two adventures in each of the Elemental Planes, and in defiance of what I consider the conventional wisdom of planar adventures (i.e. it's only for high-level PCs), we've found some fun ways to let PCs of all levels get in on the action. In anticipation of the adventures to come, Paizo's releasing Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Planes of Power in August 2016, expanding on the current elemental lore many times over as well as providing new character options that could come in handy while traveling so far afield.

Even as we send Pathfinders to distant realms, we'll still have business at home to handle. Look forward to exciting adventures on the Material Plane that continue ongoing stories, travel to unseen lands, and uncover forgotten secrets. The Year of the Stolen Storm is looking to be the best season yet!

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Pulling Back the Curtain—PaizoCon 2016 Announcements!

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Last night's PaizoCon Preview Banquet was an amazing event, full of exciting new reveals and announcements, including the unveiling of Paizo's next roleplaying game project, Starfinder, the next hardcover volumes of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and where Pathfinders will be headed next in Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder Society organized play. I cannot stress enough how fun and palpable the excitement is during the Banquet, and how cool it is to see folks react in person. But, if you didn't make it out to the show, read on!

Dark Things in the Deep, and Shadows Around the Corner

While we're a couple weeks out from showing off the thrilling contents of Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures, rest assured, the forces of darkness and a tenuous grasp of sanity are abound for your game!

We also announced the next *two* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game volumes at one time! Look out for the Pathfinder RPG Villain Codex, full of villainous gangs, demon knights, merry outlaws, sinister cults, new rules for each organization, and tips for using these foes in your own game later this year! And in Spring 2017, you'll have no problem pulling together an encounter on the fly with the Pathfinder RPG Encounter Codex, which will contain encounters from levels 1-20, with more details to come.

Straight on 'Til Morning

James Sutter announced a new chapter for Paizo last night as we head into worlds unknown in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. You'll want to read his announcement blog for more details about Starfinder, which will release in August 2017.

A Return to Korvosa, and a Journey to Dungeons Yet to be Found

Fans of the classic Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path may recognize a few familiar faces in the lineup below, found in the new Curse of the Crimson Throne Hardcover compilation, releasing this September.

The Strange Aeons Adventure Path launches in just a couple months at Gen Con 2016. In Strange Aeons, heroes will be up against cosmic horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, new monsters, mind-shattering terrors, and explore far beyond the known lands of Golarion. More information and previews will be available on the Paizo blog as we get closer!

We also announced the Adventure Path that will be following Strange Aeons at the Banquet, and I got some help from star story-teller and Developer Crystal Fraiser to give you an introduction to The Ironfang Invasion:

When the PCs witness their hometown of Phaendar destroyed in the first steps of an all-out war of conquest, they begin a quest that leads them from desperate survival to heroes of legend as they push back against the monstrous Ironfang Legion. This ruthless army—helmed by the hobgoblin General Azaersi and empowered by an ancient artifact known as the Onyx Key—intend to claim both Nirmathas and Molthune while the isolated nations bicker with one another. The heroes' quest will take them deep into the fey-haunted Fangwood Forest, to the craggy bluffs of western Nirmathas, and delve deep into the earth to explore the Darklands. Can a small band of refugees grow into champions and push back against Azaersi's horde, or will the Ironfang Invasion give way to and Ironfang nation?

The Ironfang Invasion calls back to classic adventures, focusing on exploring the unknown and confronting the fantastic, all to stop a monstrous enemy from wiping out the good people of Nirmathas and Molthune. The PCs will delve into dungeons, siege well-guarded keeps, explore the wilderness, and battle some of the most iconic creatures from the 40-year history of fantasy RPGs.

Society Happenings

Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge proudly announced Season 8 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: The Year of the Stolen Storm. Beginning at Gen Con 2016, Pathfinders of all levels will be able to travel to the Elemental Planes, clash with extraplanar rivals, and harness the raw energies of the Inner Sphere. Joining the Society in this endeavor will be a host of genie-kin as ifrits, oreads, sylphs, and undines become always available for play in the organized play campaign. To help kick off Season 8, the team will also release a complete set of updated Faction Journal Cards. Also look for new Pathfinder Academy—an updated and expanded Kids' Track program for young gamers—debuting at Gen Con!

The Adventure Card Guild's Season of the Runelords is in full swing, including a host of new rewards to distribute at upcoming conventions. Once we've defeated the Runelords, we're launching a new mini-season, Season of the Goblin, that follows the events of the We Be Goblins adventures. The much-anticipated Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Mummy's Mask Base Set hits stores shortly after that, and the team has announced that the Season of the Mummy will be quick to follow. Several new authors are lending their talents to the upcoming Adventure Card Guild scenarios, including Amanda Hamon Kunz, Jason Keeley, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

Pathfinder Society agents, stay tuned for a more detailed update from the PFS team about these announcements on Tuesday, June 1st!

Publisher Previews

During the Banquet, Erik unveiled a number of new sculpts for the line of Pathfinder Battles miniatures. However, folks are going to have to sit tight for his preview blog this upcoming Friday for images of the just-announced sculpts from the upcoming Deadly Foes release.

We've still got another day of PaizoCon 2016! Until we meet again!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

A Wild PaizoCon Appears!

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

I hope you're making the trek to the Emerald City this weekend for PaizoCon! (Current weather: 63 degrees and partly sunny. Rain Friday, sunny the rest of the weekend, highs around 65.) Below, a primer on Adventure Card Game goings-on at the show.

Season the Runelords Marchs (Mays?) Onward

PaizoCon attendees will get the opportunity to play Season of the Runelords all the way up through Adventure 3: Into the Mountain and will even get a sneak peek at Adventure 4: Abjurant Halls of Envy. I just wrote the mechanics for a scenario currently called "Look! A Monkey!" which I expect to be the start of a long and extended death-glare aimed in my direction by you, the fans. Just remember that you're the ones who went into something called the Abjurant Halls of Envy, and complaints can be delivered directly to me. I'm the one who looks like Mike Selinker.

While I'm on the subject of Adventure 4, I have more happy news. I've secured the talents of the brilliant Amanda Hamon Kunz to help with story design for the rest of Season of the Runelords. Amanda's design work has lately been featured in books including Ultimate Intrigue and Distant Shores, and her writing work shines in Cheliax: The Infernal Empire. I'm ecstatic to have a new story collaborator for this season, and if we're very nice to her she might join me again for later seasons. (Previous story collaborators have included Brian Campbell, Dave Gross, Keith Richmond, and Mike Selinker.)

Oh, and I'm bringing advance copies of June's Witch and August's Gunslinger Class Decks for folks to play with. Drop by the ACG section of the PFS ballroom and game with us!

Adventure Card Game Open Playtest

Those of you lucky enough to get into this lottery event will get to help me hone one of the quarterfinal rounds of this year's Adventure Card Game Open, which will take place at Gen Con. What you see there cannot be unseen, because if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also. But mostly because that's how human eyes work.

We Be Goblins! You Be Goblins! Everybody Be Goblins!

Another lottery event! This time, ACG players and forum rock stars cartmanbeck and Theryon Stormrune have put together a custom set of scenarios to play through inspired by the storylines of the We Be Goblins series of Free RPG Day adventures. Theryon and I will be running your tables, so I hope you bring your best goblin game faces. I also hope Theryon brings a certain culinary treat, but I don't know if those can travel cross-country or not.

Learn to Play Mummy's Mask

We've just received the happy news that our Mummy's Mask demo decks will be at the show! Stop by the ACG section of the PFS ballroom for a 30-45 minute demo. You can learn to play the game, get a sneak peek at the characters, and earn a free deck upgrade for a PFSACG character (one per player per season; this demo counts as Season of the Runelords).

Grand Convocation Scavenger Hunt

PaizoCon presents lots of great ways to play games and interact with Paizo fans and staff, but where does one begin? Why not participate in the Grand Convocation scavenger hunt, which rewards you with a special benefit in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and Adventure Card Guild organized play programs for every highlight you hit? Play games, meet staff, and walk away with new ways to experience Golarion! Pick up your scavenger hunt sheet at the Pathfinder Society headquarters in the Grand Ballroom.

Something Punny About Seminars

The "What's New in the Adventure Card Game" panel is Saturday at 2 pm, and Mike, Vic and I—and perhaps some other Lone Sharks—will be there to answer your questions and make up wildly improbable stories about card design and development. We'll also have a little something to say about Mummy's Mask at the PaizoCon Preview Banquet Saturday night. And I'll try and sneak into the "Pathfinder Society Q&A" on Sunday at 2:00 PM in case anyone has questions about PFSACG matters. Finally, Obsidian Entertainment will be doing a "Pathfinder Adventures" panel Sunday at 11:00 AM that will be worth your time. (Everyone feel free to ask those panelists when Hook Mountain Massacre is coming out so that I stop getting that question in email.)

Recurring Art Thing

Hooray! It's time for more excellent art from the PACG archives! From the upcoming Goblins Fight! Deck, the Animalbane Crossbow +2.

Illustration by Litos Lopez Rodriguez

Until next time, Pathfinders—see you at the show!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Gen Con, Baby!

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

This week is just a quick data dump ahead of Gen Con's event registration on Sunday to let you know what we've got on tap for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game at the show. I am both excited and terrified to let you in on some secrets today.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild

We've got tons of material on tap for organized play fans at this year's show. First, the known info: Season of the Runelords, our third season of the Adventure Card Guild, wraps up in August 2016, and avid players will be able to triumphantly complete the season in the Sagamore ballroom. You'll be able to play any or all of the scenarios in SotRu at the show, and we'll even keep a copy or two of Season of the Righteous and Season of the Shackles tucked away for folks who want to catch up or try some new adventures.

We'll also be debuting a mini-season, affectionately known in-house as WE BE CARD GOBLINS! This two-adventure "seasonlet" will take players through a PACG adaptation of the events of the Free RPG Day adventures We Be Goblins and We Be Goblins Too!. Birds will be crunched, toads will be licked, and many, many things will be exploded. This mini-season will bridge the gap between Season of the Runelords and Season of the Mummy, which will launch in October when we release the Mummy's Mask Base Set. I didn't get the We Be Card Goblins event listing to Gen Con on time (Bad Tanis!), so it's not listed in their event system—just buy a Season of the Runelords event ticket and we'll form parties on the fly. (This seems like a good time to mention that the Goblins Fight! and Goblins Burn! decks will be available for purchase at the show.)

To bury the lede, I should mention that our promo goblins, Ranzak, Ekkie, and Tup, will be PFACG-legal starting in August!

To further bury the lede, I am thrilled to elaborate on a little nugget that Pathfinder Society OPC Tonya Woldridge dropped in her blog yesterday:

This year's special, titled #8-00: The Cosmic Captive and authored by Matt Duval, starts at 8:00 PM on Friday night. In past years, we ran 160 Roleplaying Guild tables, spanning levels 1 through 11. This year, we are keeping 160 Roleplaying Guild tables and adding 20 Adventure Card Guild tables. All 180 tables will work together to achieve common goals, and the actions of one effect the outcomes of others.

You read that right: ACG and RPG tables working together to [redacted] [redacted] the [redacted]! I could not be more excited for this event. Working from Matt Duval's excellent adventure, the whole PFS team will be coming together to craft an exciting interactive for the whole PFS community. The Cosmic Captive will feature a mix of custom cards and cards from various base sets, and the deck will (eventually) be available for download or purchase if you want to run the event at your local convention.

ACG Open 2: Son of ACG Open

In case that wasn't enough work for me fun for you, we've also got a new Adventure Card Game Open in store. See if team "On the Dot" can continue its reign, or maybe the upstart team "Don't Trust Tanis" will take them out! Or maybe YOUR team of four will be the victors! The ACG Open is a team vs. team advancement tournament played in 3 rounds. Quarterfinal matches will happen Thursday and Friday, the semifinal rounds on Saturday, and a final on Sunday. Last year's final was attended by most of the ACG design team and was quite exciting, and the winners each got a full Adventure Card Game Base Set, Character Add-On Deck, and Adventure Decks signed by the designers.

But Wait! There's More!

Even though Mummy's Mask won't be out until October, we will be running continuous MM demos at the Paizo booth during floor hours. Just show up, take a seat, and try not to get cursed too badly. And don't miss the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game seminar on Thursday at 2:00 PM—even we have no idea what secrets we might reveal!

Our friends at Obsidian will also be on hand to show off Pathfinder Adventures. I'm going to assume that if you're reading this blog and you have an iPad or an Android tablet, you're already playing this digital edition of the PACG, so all I need to tell you is that you'll have the opportunity to ask the Obsidian crew what's coming up next. You'll also want to check out the seminar "Pathfinder & Obsidian" on Friday at 1:00 PM.

Come join us at Gen Con for the Best Four Days in Gaming!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Pawn Parade, PaizoCon Preview, and (P)Art (P)Spoilers!

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Greetings, Pathfinders!

How's everybody doing? Sitting down with your Barbarian, Oracle, and Alchemist Class Decks and getting blown up by goblins in Season of the Runelords? Well, keep sitting down, 'cause I've got lots of goodies to share. But before I do, go and vote in the PACG accessory contest!

Pathfinder Society Pawn Pwnage

I squeed briefly about this product last week, but I've got a little more space to expand on my happiness. Several months ago, Paizo Project Manager Jessica Price came to the Pathfinder Society team and said, "We've got a whole Pathfinder Pawns product just for PFS. What do you want to put in it?" After the cackling and rubbing of hands died down, John Compton, Mark Seifter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer started coming up with lists of characters. And lists, and lists, and lists. Then we rochambeau'd for who got to put in how many of their favorites. I won a lot, because I fight dirty. Mark's still a little afraid of me.

Illustrations by Jorge Fares and Kent Hamilton.

All three of the promo goblin characters are in the set! Even Tup the Terrible, who hasn't even been released yet (Free RPG Day, June 18th, at a game store near you)! All the non-iconic bards, clerics, fighter, rangers, rogues, sorcerers, wizards, monks, druids, paladins, barbarians, oracles, alchemists, inquisitors, witches, and gunslingers from their respective Class Decks are in this pawn collection. If I did my math right, that's 42 tokens for your Adventure Card Game characters! You can't beat the savings! (The iconics are in the NPC Codex Box and the Inner Sea Pawn Box.)

PaizoCon Event Preview

Those of you attending PaizoCon this year are in for a treat. In addition to a special event in which I put you through the woodchipper ACG Open 2016, forum stalwarts and Venture-Officers cartmanbeck and Theryon Stormrune have teamed up to bring you a very unusual opportunity: a convention-exclusive custom version of the We Be Goblins trilogy. Theryon and I will be running special tables of cartmanbeck's new design during the afternoon slots, so keep your eyes peeled when the lottery goes live. (There will be a pouring-out of one for cartmanbeck, who isn't able to join us at the show this year.) Players will receive a one-off PFSACG reward whose potency depends on how long they live.

New Recurring Thing: Art Preview!

Now that we're sending the current batch of Class Decks to the printer, I am swimming in oceans of absolutely tremendous art that I can't wait to share with y'all. Each week, I'll give you a glimpse at one of my favorite pieces from an upcoming ACG product. This week, it's the Blessing of the Eternal Rose, from next month's Inquisitor Class Deck.

Illustration by Felipe Escobar

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

OPC Log—11 Gozren 4716

Monday, April 11, 2016

Photo courtesy of Nathan Peever.

This past weekend I attended Emerald City Comic Con with over 80,000 other people! While not the largest convention I've participated in, it is in the top three (among Fan Expo Canada with 127,000 and Gen Con at 197,695 attendees). All three are huge conventions with a varied fan base!

This weekend volunteers and Paizo staff came together to run Pathfinder Society events in the Sheraton Grand Ballroom. Except for the early morning hours, we consistently filled our tables and worked hard to get games going quickly. Some of our attendees enjoyed the Adventure Card Game so much they came back the next day to play through the Season of the Runelords Adventure 1. Several other groups went directly from our tables to on-site retailers and bought the Rise of the Runelords Base Set with the intent to start playing back home.

Over the weekend, I managed a couple of breaks and visited other areas of the convention. While I didn't see any of the Pathfinder iconics running around, there was plenty of other great cosplay abound! Pockets of people formed as people took photos of some truly awesome concoctions of fabric, foam, and makeup. Seas of people filled the dealers hall and artist alley. Their talent amazes me and I could stand for hours looking at their work.

But Emerald City Comic Con is just one topic for this week. Let's shift gears to a topic that's been cropping up on the forums: the expense and difficulty of attending conventions. Some Pathfinders desire the rewards of attending conventions, namely boons, but couldn't see a way past the barriers blocking their path. On the organizational side, we receive requests for convention support from events that don't meet the requirements for venue or size. We don't like saying "no" to these events, so we put our heads together, and developed a "Game Day" program to augment our convention support program.

It took a few months to get the details hammered out on who qualifies, what they receive, and support distribution methods. We came up with a flexible program that allows us to tailor our response based on the region and needs of the community. The Game Day program supports three non-convention venues—the venue that is a consistently strong performer that needs recognition for its accomplishments, the venue that is new and could use support to establish itself, and those events that are not quite conventions because they occur in retail establishments or are just under the table requirements. All Game Days still must follow the requirement of being open to the public, registered on paizo.com, and having some form of online advertisement.

We decided the Regional Venture-Coordinators (RVC) know their areas best, so they should choose Game Days under the new program. Each RVC gets 10 such events a quarter. We chose 10 as a baseline number until we can see the reach of the program and identify the regional needs. The RVC works with the event organizer in establishing goals based off of attendance, event offerings, and community needs. Each Game Day should have a basic, stretch, and super stretch goal. Rewards in the form of player and GM boons scale with the goals, with all Game Days getting the basic Tier 3 rewards. If a Game Day meets its stretch goals, then they earn Tier 2 rewards, just as super stretch equals Tier 1.

It is my pleasure to introduce the first of our game days. For the second quarter of 2016, the Southeastern region named Cool Kids Excelsior 2nd Anniversary Bash from April 29-May 1 in Hoover, Alabama, as one of their not-quite-a-con Game Days, as it is held in a retail location. Point of contact is Venture-Captain Mike Seales. The second Southeastern Game Day is TriCon from April 23-24, 2016, in High Point, North Carolina. Once again, it is an event in a retail location. Venture-Lieutenant Landon Hatfield is leading this event. Both of these Game Days are on the event locator here on the website; if you want more details check them out! The Western-Europe/Middle East region named one Game Day: Madrid, Spain, is hosting reoccurring game day. The first was April 2-3 and saw 10 tables of Siege of Serpents and a few other games. The next occurrence is April 30, when they plan to run introduction events in four different locations across Madrid. For more information, contact Venture-Captain Tesifonte Negro Gonzalez. Venture-Officer emails are on the Regional Coordinators page. I look forward to announcing more Game Days as the program grows!

Finally, I would like to apologize to the three individuals who entered the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild accessory contest. I didn't take my travel schedule into account when I set the submission deadline, and was out of the office when the deadline occurred. But, late is better than never! We had three submissions of three unique accessories. Voting opens today and closes it on Friday, April 15th. Winners will be announced in the blog on Monday, April 18th! Please take a moment and vote for your favorite!

Submissions by Calthaer, Hawkmoon269, and lackoffocus.

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Simultaneously

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Hello, Pathfinders, Tanis here! This week we've got two fantastic blogs for you in one jam-packed edition. First up is Organized Play Coordinator Tonya Woldridge with a con report from Con of the North and Winter Fantasy, and the launch of Season of the Runelords. Then, we've got Adventure Card Game Lead Designer Mike Selinker with an announcement and a tease for Obsidian's digital Pathfinder Adventures. But enough from me. On with the show!

Season of the Runelords is Here!

The past two weekends, I've been attending conventions and spending much of my time at Adventure Card Guild tables previewing Season of the Runelords. This season is set after the events of Rise of the Runelords, and examines the question of what the other Runelords are doing. Starting with the first scenario ("Goblins? Gross!"), it's obvious that Tanis and the developers at Lone Shark Games turned up the witty titles, exciting adventures, and variety to suit different character's abilities.

So far, each session brought full tables, and many players rearranged their schedules to return to the Adventure Card Game area and play more. Over the next few months, many conventions will boast ACG tables including GaryCon (Lake Geneva, WI), Conflagration (Brookfield, WI), Gem State Convention (Boise, ID), and of course, PaizoCon! PaizoCon will host a boatload of Season of the Runelords tables, as well as exclusive ACG events. You can keep up on announcements for PaizoCon on the blog or by watching the main PaizoCon page.

Outside of conventions, many local Pathfinder Society chapters host ACG events. Last weekend I learned that the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region has three stores running Season of the Righteous and Season of the Shackles, and are trying to figure out when and where to run Season of the Runelords. I'd like to give a big shout out to Erica Lopnow, Sean Pearson, and the rest of the team at Con of the North for all of the time they spent organizing ACG activities this weekend and throughout the year. To find a local Adventure Card Guild game or start your own, read through the Adventure Card Guild Guide or contact your local Venture-Officer for more information.

Speaking of the Guide, it is my pleasure to officially open the Season of the Runelords, and announce that the new version of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide is now available. You can also find an ongoing schedule for the scenario and adventure releases on our forums. I encourage all of you to return to Sandpoint with me and visit our favorite NPCs and villians—Mayor Deverin, Father Zantus, and Gogmurt!

Watch out for gross goblins!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

What's It Like When Obsidian Makes a Digital Version of Your Game?

It's great! And that's all I'll ever say about that.

KIDDING. I've got a bunch to say about that, but there's only so much I can say today. That's because the Obsidian guys and I have a Reddit AMA Wednesday at 10:30 am PST, and they want me to save some stuff for that. But I will be showing off some really cool info about the all-digital port they call Pathfinder Adventures next week, ahead of the official release on March 29. So immeasurably stoked. See you over on Reddit.

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Designer

A Little Comic Relief

Tuesday, February 3, 2016

Hiya! We skipped the ACG blog last week, so we've got a lot of stuff to share! Here are three big pieces of big news:

The Runelords Rise Again

We have been working hard on the soon-to-launch Season of the Runelords (we're previewing it this weekend at Winter Fantasy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and it's not too late to get in on that!) and we're trying something a little different this time.

The Season of the Runelords storyline begins after the conclusion of the Rise of the Runelords. In that Adventure Path, the heroes defeat a Big Bad Guy (is it possible to spoil a story we published in 2007?). We're picking up the story of the world after that defeat, with your fresh party of adventurers operating near the familiar town of Sandpoint.

We're big comics fans, and we love the fact that several of Dynamite's Pathfinder Comics storylines take place in and around Sandpoint. Season of the Runelords Adventure 1: Dark Waters Rising and Adventure 2: City of Secrets looks to some of those comics to provide their story backbone and scenario art. Adventurers will experience the depravity of the Mosswood goblin tribe and the intrigues of the city of Magnimar, as filtered through the collective imagination of the Pathfinder Adventure Card game team. I'm not sure whether that should frighten or excite you.

Adventure 1, which will debut at Winter Fantasy, is based on the first 12 issues of the comics, Dark Waters Rising and Of Tooth and Claw. It all starts on the road to Sandpoint, where mutated goblins attack the hapless party. When they arrive in town, there's talk of a flying beast that eats the local livestock. And the town council is in turmoil. How all these things weave together into an intricate 6-scenario plot is for you to discover.

Adventure 2 is based on City of Secrets and Origins. This arc brings us to Magnimar, where the clerics of Sarenrae and nobles of the city are being targeted by mysterious forces. When you find yourself embroiled in the gang turf wars of Underbridge, you'll wonder if the big city is big enough even for you.

In adventure 3, we'll head off to Hollow Mountain, about which we can share little at the moment—the Hollow Mountain comic book arc is ongoing. The first 2 issues are out, and the next two issues can be preordered. Get them if you want a preview of the excitement to come!

Did We Mention Goblins?

Speaking of gobbos, we announced that our Class Deck subscription has been hijacked by goblins! The first Goblin Class Deck (yeah, we know "goblin" isn't a class, but they don't seem to care) is entitled Goblins Fight!, features the rotters Reta Bigbad, Chuffy Lickwound, and Ak the Survivor, whom you might have met in the Pathfinder: Goblins! comics. They're nasty and fun, and also nasty.

So where's Mogmurch and Poog of Zarongel? They're in the next Class Deck after that, entitled Goblins Burn!, naturally. It's a lot more spell-focused than Goblins Fight! is. We'll have that up on the site for preorder next month.

And who's in Goblins Burn! with Mogmurch and Poog? Well, that's a secret we'll keep to ourselves for a few weeks yet. But trust us, it'll be worth the wait.

But If You Just Can't Wait, We've Got You Covered

Maybe you don't want to wait for us to give you more goblin characters. Maybe you want to make them yourselves. So here's some big news: DriveThruCards has expanded their online Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Card Creator so you can now make your own character, role, and token cards!

This means that all major card types can now be made with the community card creator. Check out the Card Creator to make your own cards and see what other members of the PACG community have cooked up.

That's a lot for one blog! So check out Season of the Runelords, the Card Creator, and (when it warms up a bit) the Goblin Class Decks. Have fun storming the Goblin Fortress!

Tanis O'Connor and Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Designers

December Adventure Card Guild Updates

Tuesday, December 14, 2015

Hello, Pathfinders. Today's blog is a grab bag of PFSACG updates from me and designer Keith Richmond about Season of the Righteous, Season of the Runelords, and more!

Season of the Righteous Story Update

It was a long ride over heaps and hordes of demons (and probably more than a few brave crusaders), but Season of the Righteous is finally coming to its glorious end. Let's recap the story so far with a whole lot of spoilers:

Adventure 1-1: Herald's Chosen

The Herald of Iomedae, also known as the Hand of the Inheritor, has divined that demons are up to no good. (When are they not?) The Herald chose the best and brightest crusaders available (plus maybe a Darago or two who snuck in). You cleared the fortress city of Kenabres of a gathering horde (herd? stampede?) of fiendish minotaurs, as well as a gaggle of demon-summoning, polymorphing witches. You then cut your way past the Fiendish Tree ruler of Storasta to save Fort Clearwater from demonic invasion—and from itself. By the end of the adventure, you were not only granted mythic power for your deeds, but you were hot on the trail of an obvious trap, and the Herald totally knew how to safely spring it.

Iomedae chose her Herald for his wisdom and good judgment.

Adventure 1-2: War for the Worldwound

Sound the horns, beat the drums, and let sing the tenors of war! With a Rallying Cry, and over the bodies of a few (or more than a few) demonic mongrels, you gathered a powerful army to your side. You led them fearlessly against armies of cultists, undead, and demons in order to reach Raliscrad. But the Herald's confidence proved to be hubris: he sprung the demons' trap and was somehow spirited away. Even as you did all you could to keep your army alive, the wardstone in Kenabres shattered. You laid waste to armies of evil, but the demonic hordes are seemingly endless. With the loss of Kenabres, the line of wardstones, and the Herald, have you already lost the war?

Adventure 1-3: Lexicon of Paradox

You got together with the hero-studded cast from Dave Gross's King of Chaos to try and track down the Lexicon of Paradox, an artifact rumored to hold the secret to closing the Worldwound. Dispatching a trio of hags and the sangudaemon Ommors, you made your way to Undarin, stronghold of the Worldwound's creator. Kasiya, a powerful vampire, thwarted your plans to stealthily retrieve the Lexicon, but at Greengrove Keep you thwarted him quite permanently. The succubus Yavalliska used the moment of chaos to seize the power of the Lexicon to become a god, but she was also vanquished, though at horrible cost...

If you have a problem, if no one else can help...

Adventure 1-4: The Mighty and the Righteous

Though your comrades thought you dead, you know that no righteous hero would be kept down by merely being hurled into the Abyss. After a rocky descent, you acclimated to the chaos and horror of the place. It wasn't a pretty picture, but you learned of a way back through the Worldwound. It took a mighty show of force, and you had to play some of the demons off against each other, but you returned to Mendev.

Adventure 1-5: Herald's Vengeance

It was finally time to get some payback for the kidnapped Herald of Iomedae. You cut a wide swath through the Worldwound and defeated horrors that have plagued the area for centuries, including the Herald's 12-armed kidnapper. You then rushed off to rescue both the Queen and the Lexicon of Paradox from a plague of shadow demons and from Khorramzadeh himself.

Didn't think we'd make you wait until adventure 6 to fight him, did you?

Adventure 1-6: The Last Crusade

At long last, your quest comes to an end. At the head of an army of crusaders, you smashed your way through to Undarin. Along the way, you completed a number of quests, including joining the Pathfinder Society to free Jormurdun. Areelu Vorlesh was busy performing a ritual to hurl all of Golarion into the Rasping Rifts, so you kicked her out of Undarin. True heroes are rarely content to rest on their laurels, so you went down and punched Deskari in the nose a few times to get his attention.

With Deskari defeated and the Worldwound closed, now it's time for a long break. Right?

Scenario 1-P: Dread Lord Rising

Surprise! It ain't over yet—we've snuck in a special bonus scenario that can only be played by characters that have gained the reward from the Season of the Righteous Adventure Path. This time it's all about you (and whether you get eaten).

As you defeated Deskari, he cashed in a favor with his father Pazuzu and set the more powerful demon prince of the air on your trail. After all, Pazuzu is hungry for power and you're positively dripping with the stuff.

He'd like fries with you.

As final proof of your mythic might, your reward is the everlasting favor of Iomedae: access to the mythic paths Sword and Shield of Iomedae. That should spice up any future replays of Season of the Righteous!

Season of the Runelords Launch

Keith, Mike, and Tanis have had a blast crafting Season of the Righteous for you. We just can't stop coming up with delicious ways to take the game we've made and spin it into new stories. There's been a lot of clamoring for a return to our original Base Set, Rise of the Runelords, and we aim to please. Season of the Runelords will debut at Winter Fantasy in fabulous Fort Wayne, Indiana from February 3-7, 2016.

That week, we'll release the first scenario in Adventure 1 of Season of the Runelords, as we've been calling it internally. Winter Fantasy attendees will get the chance to play through all of Adventure 1 and Adventure 2 well in advance of their release dates, so come freeze your toes off with us in February!

One More Thing

Tanis promised "and more" above, so here's a sneak peek at some boons from January's Barbarian Class Deck!

Things are about to get messy.

Keith Richmond and Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designers

We're Not Staying Mum(my) Any Longer

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

During PaizoCon 2015, we stood onstage with designer Liz Spain and revealed that the next Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Adventure Path would be Mummy's Mask. And we said that we'd be releasing it in February. As it turns out, we're right an even 50 percent of the time.

Since the announcement, we've received a lot of feedback from customers, retailers, and distributors that our release schedule is outpacing all but our most enthusiastic players. People are still playing Skull & Shackles, or even Rise of the Runelords, and they aren't ready for a new set yet. So we've decided to delay Mummy's Mask until we feel the market is ready. That may mean July, and it may mean October, but it definitely doesn't mean February. When we commit to a firm date, we'll let you know. But fear not—it will come.

But wait a minute, you say—what if you are one of our most enthusiastic players? No worries. There's going to be plenty to keep you busy. We'll continue to release Class Decks: In the first five months of 2016, you can expect to see the Oracle, Alchemist, Inquisitor, Witch, and Gunslinger decks. We're even increasing the number of newly designed boons in some of those decks. (Hint: Damiel gets a pet giant slug.)

Yikes!

So great! That's a whole lot of new characters and boons, but what are you going to do with them? Where are the new scenarios to play through? If you've played through Rise of the Runelords (maybe a couple times), completed Skull & Shackles, and sailed through Season of the Shackles, you're probably just waiting for us to release the end of Wrath of the Righteous and Season of the Righteous... and you need MORE!

Well, we have just the thing. We're pleased to announce the next Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild season:

Season of the Runelords

Imagine that you decided to release a game based on a system you created, and you wanted the most sweeping story to go with it. Some full-on epic thing. It's no accident that the Rise of the Runelords base set was one of the biggest sellers in Paizo's history—that story is really, really good. It's chock full of giants and dragons and ogres and all manner of malevolent things.

So we're going back to the well. A whole lot of you own Runelords, and we want that to be something you can play for a long, long time. We're making a brand-new, epic Season of the Runelords, spanning the entire length of the story. But we might mix things up a little bit. Okay, a whole lot. Because you can only burn down Sandpoint Cathedral so many times. (Ten, fifteen times, tops.)

And hey, remember this ol' horsey-monster? And this bad mamma-jamma?

The original Odd Couple.

Remember how we never actually used them as villains for a scenario? Well, we've got plans for them. Big, big plans.

This will also harmonize with Obsidian's release of the PACG digital game, which (surprise!) will start with Rise of the Runelords. So we've been looking back at Runelords to see where we can improve it a little bit for the digital version. Nips and tucks, mostly. But we think you'll like what you see. And it'll tie in nicely with what we do in the Adventure Card Guild.

Season of the Runelords will begin early next year. It'll be glorious! Come play!

Mike Selinker and Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designers

Note for Adventure Card Guild Fans: We've designed a fifth scenario in Season of the Righteous Adventure 5, so 5D will come out this week, 5E next week, and Adventure 6 will begin one week later than originally planned, during the first week of November.

You Must Be This Good to Ride This Dog

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Editorial Note: Due to delays at the port, the Paladin Class Deck and Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Deck 4 release dates have been pushed back one week to September 2. To keep the Season of the Righteous in sync with the Adventure Deck, there will be no scenario released to Adventure Card Game Venture Officers next week. Scenarios 1-4A and 1-4B will be released on September 2.

When people find out I've been to 31 consecutive Gen Cons in the Midwest, they're always gobsmacked. "Mike, you must be so lucky," they say in unison, "to get to go to such an awesome show year after year!" And I am. But every year, I am reminded that Gen Con has a dirty little secret: It's a germageddon. If you're not lucky, you can bring a nasty little bit of Gen Con back with you.

And what we learned this year is that Tanis isn't a paladin.

See, in the RPG, a paladin becomes immune to disease. That would make her the perfect Gen Con attendee! But Tanis isn't a paladin, so she's real sick, and you should send her your best wishes. And believe me, she'd want to be writing this Paladin Class Deck preview blog for you, but I'm doing it instead so she gets better. Because Healthy Tanis is Awesome Tanis.

So without further heartstring tugging, let's talk about paladins!

Seelah: "Friend, You Look a Little Worse for the Wear"

When we released the Wrath of the Righteous Base Set, we made Seelah the front-and-center character. That Seelah had her hair unbraided and her shield out, so demons beware. If you want a Seelah that can punch an Abyssal pitspawn into next Thursday, Wrath Seelah is your paladin.

But what if you want a Seelah who not only knows how to mix it up melee-style, but is also the best friend anyone's ever had, you want Paladin Deck Seelah. Let me show you why.

This version of Seelah has a hunt-and-kill power similar to the one on Rise of the Runelords Seelah, where she will shove aside boons to get to the crunchy monsters hiding from her smiting. She also borrows a version of Kyra's healing power, except instead of burning explorations to help her friends, Seelah burns her own cards to make her companions healthier. And unlike the clerics, she makes her friends healthier in a predictable manner. Seelah knows every time that she can trade one card of hers for two or three of yours. That's every turn she takes. With a single power feat, that's every turn anybody takes. But what about characters at other locations? Check a box on the Faith Healer role, and she can bring you to her and heal you, so you can get around to taking your turn right then and there.

Keeping Seelah alive thus becomes the party's primary goal. And lookie here, her Faith Healer role has the best way to do just that. As long as she has a blessing or another Divine card in hand, she can recharge any Healing card she plays. That Mass Cure? Seelah says, "Don't worry your pretty little head about it—it'll come back before you know it."

Speaking of awesome, here's a couple tricks from the Paladin deck that Seelah likes a ton.

Koren: "We Should Kill That Because It's Weird"

Now, a half-orc paladin may not be your average paladin, but Koren isn't exactly average. He's got some orc in him, so despite being raised in a loving home by two upstanding half-orcs, he explodes in righteous vengeance a couple times a day.

Koren starts out all about helping his friends. He uses armor like Sue Storm uses force fields: Give him a shield, and he'll throw it in front of his buddies to absorb their damage or power up their attacks. That's all well and good.

But hey, select that Gilded Fist role, and all of a sudden this likable half-orc is glaring at Undead and Aberrations and Outsiders with all the fury of Sarenrae scorned. Bonus dice, Magic trait, recharging blessings—Koren turns into a multi-tool of weird-monster crushing. He’s also the spell-heaviest paladin in the deck, so that crushing is bolstered by spell and sword alike.

While we're at it, let's give Koren some more tools for that multi-tool.

Raz: "Who's a Good Griffon? You're a Good Griffon!"

Raz is already your favorite gnome paladin ever. That armored riding dog is just the cutest. And a two-foot-long lance! Adorbs!

Nah, she's gonna kick your skull in, and so's her little dog, too. Raz (short for Razzmatazz, our playtest name for her) is the ultimate mounted paladin, optimizing the deck's many cards that have the Mount trait. When she starts out, she can recharge a Mount from the top of her deck to boost her lance, and she can bury one to intercept another person's monster fight. One checkbox in, she can do the latter just by discarding a Mount.

However, she is subject to the mercy of her card draws... unless she's a Dog Rider Knight. The Dog Rider Knight just says "I would like a Mount please" and—poof!—one appears. What a faithful dog! And significantly, that role has the best flavor text Tanis ever wrote. Admit it, you want to toss aside whatever you're playing and play Raz right now.

Here's a couple of Raz's best friends. She's not just good with dogs, natch. Sometimes, you just gotta fly.

Those are our paladins du jour. In the name of all that's holy, go play them!

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Designer

25 New Reasons to Attend a Convention

Monday, August 17, 2015

Every season since the Year of the Ruby Phoenix at Gen Con 2011, the we've released a new set of convention-exclusive boons that Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild players can win. The next year I wrote the Season 4 boons as a volunteer, making a few rewards that have reappeared over the years: Expedition Manager (what if a boon let you do real archaeology?), Treasure Map, Missing Mentor (can a standalone boon tell its own story?), and the infamous Xenophobia (what if there was a boon that ate all of your race boons?). I have no doubt that boon writing played an important part in my being hired by Paizo, so you can understand that I have a special fondness for the process.

This year Linda Zayas-Palmer joined in, and she brought some great ideas and energy to the project. We also had a great new RPG hardcover book dripping with flavor that we could incorporate into these unique rewards. Finally, now that the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild has begun the Season of the Righteous, we have teamed up with Tanis o'Conner to create several convention rewards tailored specifically to the Adventure Card Game's organized play program.

This year that adds up to 25 new rewards: 18 RPG convention boons, 5 Adventure Card Game convention rewards, and 2 GM boons.

Wait, two GM convention boons? Yes, by popular demand, we took the much-desired Expanded Narrative boon—allowing one to "recharge" GM star replay opportunities by GMing more games—and converted it into an alternate GM boon. Now every time you GM at a convention, you can earn your choice of that or that quarter's boon that unlocks the ability to play a PC with a rare race. To kick it off, we're reintroducing aasimars as a GM boon.

Let's take a look at look at this year's Roleplaying Guild player rewards:

Illustration by Alexandur Alexandrov

1. Psychic Dilettante allows your PC to use one of the psychic skill unlocks from Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures without being a psychic character.
2. I rather enjoyed writing Prophetic Dream, which lets your character experience a nocturnal vision that can grant her a much-needed advantage during the rest of the adventure.
3. The Soothsayer is a unique follower who can assist you on a skill check or boost your Armor Class with a dire prediction that then leaves you shaken for 1 round.
4. Aspis Slayer is the first of two anti-Aspis-Consortium boons, and it lets a ranger choose the Consortium as a favored enemy or lets anyone else perform a devastating smite against an Aspis agent.
5. Against the Consortium is the second of these, and it's what I'd categorize as an achievement boon. Foil enough Aspis schemes, and you can gain a deadly reputation that gives you an edge over any other Consortium thugs.
6. Niche Specialist appears for the second time, granting a PC his choice of a bonus during chases, an edge when fighting in darkness, or an advantage against haunts.
7. We were rather charmed by the idea that regular use of an object could imbue it with a psychic impression. To introduce this in the organized play campaign, Linda created Psychic Awakening, a boon that lets you develop a greater attachment to a favorite piece of equipment by using it regularly or incorporating it into your actions. In return, it becomes slightly easier to enchant.
8. Why should kineticists have all the fun? Elemental Blast lets any character unleash a kineticist's signature attack once—or allows a kineticist to perform a much-needed composite blast she otherwise hasn't learned.
9. Some new spells and abilities in Occult Adventures allow a character to read auras, whose colors correspond to different emotions. The Emotional Aura boon lets you channel one of these emotional auras and glow with the corresponding color to gain temporary bonuses.
10. Ley lines wind their way through the world, and Ley Line Access lets your PC tap into one to bolster spells with certain descriptors. I'm particularly proud of this one—both because of the way you can reuse it when especially close to the ley line and because of the fun opportunity I had to describe a few minor lines in the Inner Sea region.
11. Some locations have their own benevolent spirit, and the Loci Spirit Ritual boon allows a PC to contact one of these to curry its favor (and gain defensive and healing abilities). However, performing evil actions can corrupt a loci spirit, causing it to turn vengeful.
12. The Expedition Manager is back, giving a PC the ability to launch his own archaeological expedition and uncover more powerful items when spending Prestige Points.
13. One of the most common requests I've heard over the past two years is for a way to transfer a boon from one PC to another. Share the Wealth allows for exactly that, but only for boons that grant the PC the ability to select an otherwise prohibited animal companion, familiar, or other creature. You can instead use it to transfer access to an intelligent item from one PC to another. I know that some folks aren't going to like that this is a convention boon and not a universal ability, but we'd first like to see whether this mechanic works on a smaller scale before introducing a more widespread rule. Let us know what you think.
14. Hypnotic Therapy lets your character retrain a class feature at a greatly reduced cost, or she can subsidize a larger retraining project.
15. Linda and I enjoy boons that allow one of a player's PC to interact with another of his PCs, and the Pathfinder Apprentice boon allows one of your Seeker PCs to mentor a 1st-level PC and grant her an additional trait from a short list.
16. Now that there are rules for psychic magic, it's important for PCs to consider ways to defend against these abilities. Psychic Bastion grants a PC a small bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects, and the bonus increases if the effect is from a psychic source.
17. Not everyone joined the Pathfinder Society early in life. Some started as members of the Aspis Consortium and then thought better of that decision. The Aspis Defector boon grants your PC a reusable trick learned from her time among the Consortium.
18. It's hard to say no to a Treasure Map, which lets a PC use his downtime to search for hidden treasure rather than work a day job.

And those are just the RPG boons! As Tanis O'Connor explains, "The Adventure Card Guild rewards run the gamut from useful to awesome, with die bumps and scenario-spanning powers representing just a few of the goodies on offer." On of my favorites is the Riftwarden Response, which helps everyone fend off summoned henchment.

We're excited to see these Chronicle sheets in players' hands, and we hope you enjoy using them as much as we had fun writing them.

John Compton
Developer

Season of the Righteous—The Story So Far

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

This week marks the start of the third chapter of the Season of the Righteous storyline for the Adventure Card Guild. Season of the Righteous is a complementary story to the cataclysmic events of the Wrath of the Righteous. The heroes who brave its dangers are fully as powerful and important to the plot as those who go through the main AP, but they deal with other events of the Fifth Crusade.

Where is the Herald of Iomedae at the start of Wrath? Kicking demon butt with you, of course.

Who finds the Lexicon of Paradox? The saints and martyrs who complete Adventure 3, premiering at Gen Con this Thursday!

The Story So Far (beware—this way lies season spoilers!):

Adventure 1-1: Herald's Chosen
The Herald of Iomedae, also known as the Hand of the Inheritor, has divined that demons are up to no good. When are they not? The Herald chose the best and brightest crusaders available (and maybe a Darago or two who snuck in.) You cleared the fortress city of Kenabres of a gathering herd of fiendish minotaurs, as well as a gaggle of demon-summoning, polymorphing witches. You then cut your way past the Fiendish Tree ruler of Storasta to save Fort Clearwater from both itself and demonic invasion. By the end, you were not only granted mythic power for your deeds, but also hot on the trail of an obvious trap, and the Herald totally knew how to safely spring it.

He made the Arboreal Blights. Have fun killing him!
Illustration by Anna Christenson.

Adventure 1-2: War for the Worldwound
Sound the horns, beat the drums, and let sing the tenors of war! With a Rallying Cry, and over the bodies of a few demonic mongrels, you gathered a powerful army to your side. You led them fearlessly against armies of cultists, undead, and demons in order to reach Raliscrad. But the Herald's confidence proved to be hubris: he sprung the demons' trap and was somehow spirited away. Even as you did all you could to keep your army alive, the wardstone in Kenabres shattered. You laid waste to armies of evil, but the demonic hordes are seemingly endless. With the loss of the Kenabres, the line of wardstones, and the Herald, have you already lost the war?

The Lexicon of Paradox

That brings us to the current adventure. Your only hope of stopping the demonic hordes from flooding through the Worldwound is to find the Lexicon of Paradox, the powerful artifact that originally opened the Worldwound. Queen Galfrey would not ask you to undertake such a dangerous quest without assistance. The renowned adventurer Count Varian Jeggare and his bodyguard Radovan Virholt are also looking for the Lexicon, and the queen is sending along one of her most powerful paladins, Captain Oparal.

Radovan: Listen up, you mooks. You die, makes me look bad. You know how much I like to look good.
Varian: Some choose to wield the sword, others the grimoire. I note that we have two hands.

If these heroes and this quest sound familiar to you, it's because they're the stars of several Pathfinder Tales novels by the outstanding Dave Gross, who helped us write the text for this adventure. More details about the events in Adventure 3 are recounted quite directly in Pathfinder Tales: King of Chaos. (Prince of Wolves, Master of Devils, and Queen of Thorns precede that novel, but you don't need to read them first.)

Hope to see many of you at Gen Con! I'll be at the ACG Open, as well as bouncing between the Paizo booth in the exhibitor hall and the ACG area in the Sagamore Ballroom.

Get out there and take back the Worldwound, my crusaders. It's demon-clobbering time!

Keith Richmond
Adventure Card Game Developer

Faith and the Sword—New Class Decks Headed Your Way!

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Greetings, Pathfinders.

We've got an exciting new announcement for you this week, but first, I want to talk about the characters from the new August release, the Paladin Class Deck. Meet the band:

First up is Koren. When the design team started kicking around paladin character concepts, I immediately pitched the idea for a self-sacrificing martyrish fellow, one who's always saving other people at cost to himself. Because the design team has a... quirky... sense of humor, Koren quickly morphed into a self-hating half-orc who follows Sarenrae. He's all about saving people from themselves. His roles allow him to branch out into undead slaying or to stick with his team. (Fun Fact: that last one, the Unflagging Companion role, was originally called Creepy Stalker. Editorial is so mean.)

Next we have my personal favorite, Raz the gnome. She's definitely a cavalier-like take on the paladin. She's inspired by a perennial RPG character of mine: a halfling paladin dog rider. Conveniently, I talk about her a bit on this podcast. From Raz's token card:

“Raz is the only gnome paladin she's ever met. Therefore, she's clearly the best gnome paladin there ever was. At an early age, Raz decided she wanted to be different from her mischievous kin. She did so by kicking bad guy butt and protecting the good guys.”

That tells you most of what you need to know. She's got a role devoted to helping people get stuff, and she's got a role named Dog Rider Knight. I'm not going to tell you what to do or anything, but Dog. Rider. Knight.

Last but certainly not least, we've got a fresh new take on the iconic paladin Seelah. This Iomedae-following sword-wielding lover of good and righteousness shows off her "lay on hands" ability in the Paladin Class Deck. For the uninitiated, Lay On Hands is a classic paladin ability—the paladin calls forth divine aid to heal someone with a mere touch, faith healer-style. In fact, Faith Healer is one of her roles, good for those who like supportive paladin builds. Unlike Raz, Seelah has no interest in loot, so she tends to ignore it in her endless search for justice.

You may have noticed that this deck features only three characters rather than the four featured in each of the first seven class decks. That's a change that you'll see going forward in the rest of the Class Deck line. Based on extensive player feedback, we've increased the number of boons in the deck. Each character can now get a greater range of worthwhile options to choose from while progressing through an adventure path. We think you'll be pleased with the results while still appreciating the variety of innovative characters that we present in these products.

Oh, and that news I foreshadowed so subtly earlier? CLASS DECK SUBSCRIPTIONS, Y'ALL. They're starting with the August release of the Paladin Class Deck. Check the details:

With your ongoing Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Deck subscription, we'll automatically send you each new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Class Deck, charging your credit card automatically as we ship each product. You only need to sign up once, so you'll never need to worry about renewal notices or missed products! Best of all, each subscription shipment will give you a discount of 20% off the MSRP of that release. Items from your Class Deck subscription will be combined with your other Paizo subscriptions (including your Adventure Card Game subscription) to save money on shipping.

When you start an ongoing subscription, any existing preorders for products covered by your subscription are automatically cancelled (or if you've preordered more than one of an item, they'll have their quantity reduced by one). If you've already preordered any of the upcoming decks, you do not need to do anything special when you subscribe.

Exciting, right? Next week, you'll learn what the real Best Character Ever is, because I'm taking my turn at the helm.

Until next time, Pathfinders.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

"I Also Attack Butt-First"—PaizoCon 2015 and the Adventure Card Game

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Another PaizoCon is in the books, and I'm happy to say we mostly survived (R.I.P., Sad Ezren). This was the biggest con yet for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game and the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild. More people then ever are getting involved!

Adventure Card Guild Launches Season of the Righteous

Several hundred players jumped into the new Season of the Righteous with bared blades and a fierce sense of adventure. This week, those of you who play in the Adventure Card Guild at your friendly local game store will be able to launch the new season with Scenarios 1-1A (Cloven Trail) and 1-1B (Instant Inquisition). You'll get your first introduction to your patron and friend, the Herald of Iomedae.

If you're a little nervous that we're giving you such a helpful cohort right away... you should be.

Adventure Card Game Announcements

Adventure Card Game panel attendees put up with a fair amount of ridiculousness from the panelists to get their questions answered. Vic Wertz added to the legend of the bunyip. Liz Spain provided a colorful anecdote about African porcupines that only have quills on their hindquarters: When they become aggressive, they can run backwards at a predator to stab it. I then took the opportunity to inform the room that... well, read the headline.

Banquet attendees at the PaizoCon Preview Banquet got a sackful of good tidbits. I announced the launch of a Class Decks monthly subscription through paizo.com (coming next month) and the names of some upcoming Class Decks: the barbarian and the alchemist. Mike talked about various awesome bits of Wrath of the Righteous and then announced the next base set: it's Mummy's Mask!

PACG Playtesting

The design team also got an opportunity to test out some new material on enthusiastic victimsconvention-goers. We'd like to thank Sarah Bull, Eric Ruocco, Alejandro Valdivia, Denise Panciera, Rob Zemlicka, Jennifer Pesek, Darran Caldemeyer, Michelle Caldemeyer, Daniel Powell, Jason Windham, Michael Huguenard, James Wronowski, Sarah Lehmann, and many others for their feedback on the Adventure Card Guild Open tournament format and some scenario testing for Mummy's Mask. Here's a note on the Open: We plan to release some more tickets for the ACG Open. We'll let you know on the blog when that's going to happen.

The "Best Character Ever" debate returns next week with designer Liz Spain's argument. Until then, I leave you with this.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Here There Be Demons

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Welcome to "The Worldwound Incursion", the first adventure of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. (I think I just about used up my allotment of capital letters there, but I'll try to soldier on.)

Note: This blog post, including previewed cards, features substantial spoilers of the plot and events in the first installment of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path. Please tread carefully if you plan to play through the Pathfinder RPG version of the story, or if you like to be surprised by turns of event in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

When you get your Wrath box, you'll get the first adventure, along with the shiny new rulebook you can grab from the product page. It includes all the knowledge you'll need to defeat the scenarios in the base set and begin your journey through the Wrath of the Righteous adventure path. Those of you who are interested in Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild will also want to grab your copy of the new Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide so you can start playing the first scenario of the Season of the Righteous when it's released to stores next Wednesday.

If you're one of the lucky subscribers who has already received your Wrath box, you've hopefully sharpened your skills on the introductory base set scenarios. Once you've done that, you're ready to begin the journey set forth in the Adventure Path. This is where the story truly starts: the Fall of Kenabres.

Have a nice trip!

Remember Khorramzadeh from my previous blog post? He's a demon lord that destroys the city of Kenabres, decapitating the silver dragon Terendelev in the process. You get to use him here by shuffling him into the blessings deck as he rampages through the dying city.

Did you think we would make you encounter him in Adventure 1? We aren't that cruel, but does show up again in [Mike: NOPE!] though. Each time he pops out of the blessings deck, he shakes things up and throws some fire around before popping right back into the deck, only to show up more and more as the deck dwindles away. You better hurry!

Want to know what happens next? The rest of the adventure involves falling into the underground, fighting your way back to the surface, rallying the survivors in the town, assaulting the demons in their base, and finally stealing back the wardstone they shattered to breach the Worldwound in the first place. Fortunately for you, the wardstone still has some juice left.

All we need is some Krazy Glue and some time.

Running Themes

You'll notice a couple of new features as you play through this adventure. The first is the set of cohorts you'll have available. One of the themes in Wrath of the Righteous is the importance of NPCs, both good and bad. You'll see these faces again and again, and you'll come to depend on them.

We get by with a little help from our friends.

There's one other thing to notice about some of these cohorts. Take a closer look at the phrases on them, such as "if you have a role card." This is our tricky way of making them more powerful as the game progresses.

Another thing you'll note are the Scales. When the Storm King slew the silver dragon Terendelev, her dying gift to the characters was her scales. The party can choose one of them as loot at the end of each of these scenarios. However, there's only one of each type, so players must decide who will wield them. I suggest single combat!

Not to scale. BOOM.

Bring on the Demons!

As promised, the demons start ramping up a bit, and a few new ones are introduced here.

All demons chosen based on their good looks and excellent senses of humor.

Faxon is the villain for the fourth scenario, and he's nasty. Everyone has to recharge all of their healing when he pops up, and it costs you cards to play cards against him. Even when you win, you'll have to pay a high price.

Don't get me started on the Demonic Fly. I hate that thing. It's tough to beat, and if you don't, it goes and messes up someone else's plans. And the Wrecker Demon is even tougher, and he takes out your items, and he's ugly, too.

Everyone Loves a Mutt

The mongrels are a group of patchwork mutants living under the city. They also make a strong showing here, both as monsters and allies.

Whose side are you on?!

Their defining characteristic is their random nature. You'll have to pull a card from the box to see how difficult they are to defeat or acquire. I love this variation on the Veteran trait. As you add more powerful cards to the box in later adventures, encountering the mongrels is going to get tougher as well.

One Last Cool Thing

There's a sword you'll find in this set called Radiance.

Well, it isn't glowing blue, so at least there aren't any orcs around.

In the adventure path, Radiance is just a simple sword that you find early on, but as you perform brave deeds, more of its abilities unlock, and it grows along with the characters. You'll see more about how we are doing this in a really cool way in adventure...

Mike: And I think that about does it for this blog! Paul will be released from his dungeon in a month to preview adventure 2, if he can prove he can keep his mouth shut.

Paul Peterson
Adventure Card Game Designer

Come Together—Adventure Card Guild and Summer Conventions

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

As we head into summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, convention activity is heating up. But before we talk about the Adventure Card Guild at a convention near you, we have some news to wrap up Season of the Shackles!

Season of the Shackles Cards Available at DriveThru!

The Season of the Shackles Complete Card Set is now available via our print-on-demand partners at DriveThru Cards. It includes all of the new cards we created throughout the season, including 6 copies of the Councilor's Ring reward. It also includes additional copies of the Skull & Shackles cards that previously required you to use proxy cards during the season. (It does *not* include the Season of the Shackles scenarios—those are available here.) We have also made available the Councilor's Ring as a single card. (Note that DriveThru has a 10-card minimum, which you could meet with multiple copies of the Ring, the Rise of the Runelords errata sets, cards made with DriveThru's PACG Custom Card Creator, or any other cards DriveThru sells.)

May 2015: PaizoCon

In just under two weeks, Paizo will be hosting the eighth annual PaizoCon, a celebration of Paizo's games and the fans who play them. This year, PaizoCon coincides with the launch of the Wrath of the Righteous Base Set, as well as the launch of the Season of the Righteous for the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild. PaizoCon attendees will be able to play Adventure 1 of the new season before it's released to stores and regional shows, as well as testing a tournament format that will run at Gen Con. More on that in a bit. (PaizoCon attendees: Prepare to be my guinea pigs!)

It's likely we'll run an impromptu marathon of Skull & Shackles and/or Season of the Shackles for the nautically minded among you. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet the entire Pathfinder Adventure Card Game design, editorial, and production teams (except the lovely but deeply wrong-headed Keith Richmond, who lives on the incorrect coast and knows nothing about what makes a character great.) Obsidian Entertainment will also be at the show. If you're one of the sad people who can't make it to Seattle for the show, Scenarios A and B of Adventure 1 and Version 2 of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide will be out that week as well. Badges are available until May 14, so register today if you want to come and play with us!

June 2015: Origins

The first weekend in June, Mike, Chad, I will be traveling to to Columbus, Ohio for the Origins Game Fair. Paizo will have an Adventure Card Game area in Hall D; we're on the right side behind the AEG booth. We'll be running demos of Wrath of the Righteous, as well as Adventures 1 and 2 (!) of the Season of the Righteous. (Origins attendees: Prepare to be my guinea pigs!) Hopefully, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream will back up and running so we can get some tasty dairy treats. Mmmm, Jeni's.

Origins Adventure Card Guild events will run from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Wednesday through Saturday in Hall D, and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Sunday.

July 2015: Gen Con

The best four days in gaming happen at the end of July in Indianapolis at Gen Con . Paizo takes over the massive Sagamore Ballroom at the Indiana Convention Center. We'll be bringing the first three adventures of Season of the Righteous, as well as my new baby, the first annual Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Open. The PACG Open is a team-based card game tournament, where your team of four players will test your mettle and your PACG rules knowledge against a mean, cruel, fiendish, dastardly scenario designed by yours truly. If your team does well enough, you could advance to the semi-finals and maybe even to the finals of the event on Sunday morning. The tournament winners will each receive truly epic bragging rights and a complete set of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game set of their choice, including promo cards (must be an already-released AP, rules lawyers) and whatever other exciting things we come up with.

Gen Con Adventure Card Guild events will run from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Thursday and Friday, 8:00 AM to midnight on Saturday, and 8:00 AM to noon on Sunday. PACG Open first-round tables will run at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM (buy tickets!), semi-final rounds will run at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM on Saturday, and the final round will run at 10:00 AM Sunday. Gen Con event registration opens Sunday at noon Eastern Standard Time, so get ready to sign up!

August 2015: PAX

The Card Team will be at PAX! We'll be running card games and handing out promos. That's all I know for now.

Finally, because I couldn't bear to let a week go by without another card spoiler, I give you... the Splendiferous Hat!

In case you couldn't tell, I made this.

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Announcing the Season of the Righteous

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

We hope you're enjoying the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild's "Season 0" trial run, Season of the Shackles. All six adventures will be available for purchase as of April 15, and we'll soon be making a Season of the Shackles deck available for purchase as a print-on-demand product at DriveThruCards.com. That deck will feature all the new cards we created for the season, so you won't have to use proxy cards if you don't want to. The Adventure Path loot reward Councilor's Ring will also be available at DriveThruCards.com at the same time.

We've learned a lot from Season of the Shackles, and we'll be applying that experience to make the next season of Adventure Card Guild play even better. Season 1, dubbed Season of the Righteous, will premiere with the launch of the Wrath of the Righteous Base Set on May 27.

Here's the planned schedule for the season:

	Early Release to Retailers/Coordinators	Compiled Adventure Goes on Sale
May 27, 2015	Scenario 1-1A, 1-1B
June 3, 2015	Scenario 1-1C
June 10, 2015	Scenario 1-1D
June 17, 2015	Scenario 1-1E
June 24, 2015	Scenario 1-2A	Adventure 1-1
July 1, 2015	Scenario 1-2B
July 8, 2015	Scenario 1-2C
July 15, 2015	Scenario 1-2D
July 22, 2015	Scenario 1-2E
July 29, 2015	Scenario 1-3A	Adventure 1-2
August 5, 2015	Scenario 1-3B
August 12, 2015	Scenario 1-3C
August 19, 2015	Scenario 1-3D
August 26, 2015	Scenario 1-4A	Adventure 1-3
September 2, 2015	Scenario 1-4B
September 9, 2015	Scenario 1-4C
September 16, 2015	Scenario 1-4D
September 23, 2015	Scenario 1-4E
September 30, 2015	Scenario 1-5A	Adventure 1-4
October 7, 2015	Scenario 1-5B
October 14, 2015	Scenario 1-5C
October 21, 2015	Scenario 1-5D
October 28, 2015	Scenario 1-6A	Adventure 1-5
November 4, 2015	Scenario 1-6B
November 11, 2015	(Veterans Day)
November 18, 2015	Scenario 1-6C
November 25, 2015	(Thanksgiving)
December 2, 2015	Scenario 1-6D
December 9, 2015	Scenario 1-6E
December 16, 2015	Scenario 1-6F
December 23, 2015		Adventure 1-6

Iconic Heroes Promo Cards

Season 1 will also allow characters to use promo cards from WizKids' Pathfinder Battles: Iconic Heroes miniatures line. Set 1 and Set 2 are available now, and at least four more sets will follow.

Each Adventure Card Guild character can treat the promo card that belongs to the iconic for her class as if it was in her Class Deck. For example, Wu Shen, a character from the Rogue Class Deck, would be able to take the item Footpad's Boots for any B or better deck upgrade, since we treat the set indicator P as 0.

If you're playing Merisiel in the Adventure Card Guild, you'll be in even better shape. Because Merisiel is listed as the card's owner, she can treat the Footpad's Boots as if that card has the Basic trait. That means she can start play with that card in her deck!

Change to Feat Progression

The biggest change to the PFSACG organized play system is a response to the feedback we've received from event organizers concerning the difficulty of mustering tables at small- and medium-sized events. Players from different local tables sometimes need different scenarios, but it can be difficult to backtrack and catch up. We hear that concern, and we're tinkering with ways to alter feat progression that will ease mustering problems. Details will come in the next version of the PFSACG Guide to Organized Play. In the coming days, we'll also be working closely with the organized play campaign's venture-officers to refine ideas and deliver the best possible experience for the first full season of the program.

New Guide to Organized Play

What a segue! That's right, the card game team is working on an updated version of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide to Organized Play. This version of the guide will feature the update to promo cards mentioned above, as well as details on how the Wrath of the Righteous Base Set's mythic paths will be used in Adventure Card Guild play. We're also adding sections that explain how to fill out a Chronicle sheet, simplify the deck upgrade process, and address characters that want to play both Season 0 and Season 1. All the detail-oriented, rules-lawyering fun your greedy little heart could ask for will be coming to you through a download in mid-May.

Free Base Set Program for Retailers Continues

Retailers loved our free base set program as a way to get people into their stores and playing in the Adventure Card Guild, so we're continuing the program with the Season of the Righteous. Game stores that have registered with Paizo's retailer locator will be contacted in the next few weeks with details about how to get a free Wrath of the Righteous Base Set. If your store hasn't signed up, you'd best get to it!

Until next time, Pathfinders.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

S(More) Story of the Season of the Shackles

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Hello, Pathfinders! The inaugural season of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild marches on, and I thought you might like an update on how the pirate PCs are progressing.

Avast, mateys! Story spoilers for Adventure #2 of the Season of the Shackles lurk below!

Love is in the air here in the Inner Sea, and the Lady of Tidewater Rock needs your help to choose a helpmeet! She's got a bevy of suitors, but her eye lingers on one "Heartbreak" Hinsin, apparently despite his ominous name. There are many who'd raise an objection at this proposed wedding, including the oh-so-charming Master Scourge, but you're around to help ensure that love conquers all. Surely Hinsin's heartbreaking days are over?

Never trust a man with braids in his beard.
Illustration by Bryan Sola

Having earned the lady's trust, you embark on a mission to deliver supplies to an isolated settlement badly in need of supplies. The hapless hamlet has fallen afoul of a tribe of marauding grindylows, and the tentacled little terrors (yuck) are intercepting all attempts to reach them. Lady Smythee has enlisted a ransacking goblin pirate and his weidling vessel to help you sneak up on the grindylow hideout. After a whole lot of really gross-looking monsters, and some truly incorrigible behavior from your goblin pirate ally, you manage to get relief to the settlement, and Lady Smythee rewards you generously.

Apparently, your reputation precedes you among the aquatic denizens of the Shackles, because a badly crippled fishfolk woman offers to handsomely reward you for enacting a little vengeance upon the sea devils who maimed her and stole her spawn. Pirates and revenge go hand in hand, so you eagerly set out to slaughter some sea devils and make a little old lady happy.

Back in the land of two-legged employers, "Heartbreak" Hinsin and Lady Smythee are sponsoring a wedding regatta, and the prize is a sweet new ship. The rules of the race: "Many men enter; one man leaves." Your uncle Mad Max would be proud. Will your doughty band of pirates have what it takes to take down the other sailors? You'll have to play to find out!

MOAR CARD SPOILERS

Are you implying that most people don't carry around bags of sticks?

Today you learned that Lini likes to whittle. She carries around a bag of wood from forests she's visited and whittles and polishes it. Our girl's a touch OCD.

My god likes me better than you.

From Iconic Heroes Set #2 comes a special blessing just for clerics, who know how to get every ounce of goodness out of a god's blessing.

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Season of the Shackles Updates

Tuesday, February 3, 2014

Hello, Pathfinders. I hope the Price of Infamy Adventure Deck is treating you well? And by "treating you well," I of course mean thoroughly beating you up before you battle back and achieve exciting victory.

We're most of the way through our inaugural Adventure Card Guild season, and the response has been pretty positive. We've got a few changes and clarifications to make, and then at the end you get pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

Your Meat

In the original, bleeding-edge store release of the season so far, players don't receive their role cards until the end of Adventure 4. There was a reason for this, but for a few different reasons, (cue millions of voices suddenly crying out in terror before suddenly being silenced), we're changing this. Effective today, the rewards for Adventure 4 and Adventure 3 are swapped, meaning that you get your role card (and your new power feat that you can use on your role card) at the end of Adventure 3, and access to the Letter of Marque and Pirate's Favor (as well as another feat) at the end of Adventure 4. Blame the Empire.

We've also made some small tweaks to a few scenario powers and rewards, as well as some templating changes. To wit:

Scenario 02-C Revenge of the Fishfolk: Krelloort can no longer attempt to hide forever behind the comforting bulk of Hirgenzosk, as Pinnacle Atoll has been replaced by Raker Shoals. We've also clarified that everyone's boon type choices are shuffled together to form the treasure stack.

Scenario 04-A A Tale of Two Alchemists: This scenario originally gave out a loot card that allowed you to remove it from the game to gain a skill feat. The idea behind giving that out as opposed to a skill feat is that in a particular tight spot, you might choose a non-primary skill to improve. Maybe Flenta reeeeeally wants to impress that Rogue Ape, so she gives up her loot for a much-needed Charisma bump. Player feedback let us know that this overhead was more trouble than it was worth and was also subject to serious abuse, so we've simplified the reward. Now, once during an encounter, you can choose a skill feat. Same idea, but simpler, with less overhead.

Finally, I want to talk a bit about the Adventure Path reward and how it will work. After you complete all six adventures, you'll unlock the loot item Councilor's Ring. (No, you may not have a sneak peek at it. Where's the fun in that?) Anyway, you will be able to assign that item to a new character in the upcoming Season 1, Season of the Righteous. That character will be able to use it as if it came in her Class Deck box. We're not sending all zillion ACG players a copy of the card—sorry—but we will make sure that the PDF of the card is sized for easy printing and sleeving.

I think of this style of boon as a legacy item. Editor Brian Campbell likes to talk about the heirloom ring that his character's ancestor passed down to his current character. Characters that unlock the ring might also find other ways to use it in the future, but we'll save that for another day.

Your Pudding

MOAR CARD SPOILERS!

Om nom nom, Biter bites the bad guy's butts.
-Harsk's Song (not really)

Everyone's favorite badger makes an appearance in Iconic Heroes Set #2 and if the card isn't enough to make you want him, check out the miniature.

I make old-man Ezren good at everything and also keep him from running around naked!

I look forward to seeing the first playthrough of Skull & Shackles with Ezren, Wizard-Captain of the Inner Sea.

Until next time, Pathfinders!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Season of the Shackles: The Halfwayish Point

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The inaugural season of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild is underway, and players across the globe are testing their mettle against not-so-lone sharks and a very frisky dragon turtle. Curious about the story so far? You’ve come to the right place!

Before I get to that, though, you should be aware that weekly scenario downloads will resume in January, as the goblins in the Paizo workshop take a much-needed holiday.

Beware, me hearties—story spoilers for Adventure #1 of Season of the Shackles lurk below.

Adventure 1 begins with normal, friendly, totally not-a-pirate you, innocently hiring passage on a Shackles ship for what you thought was a, well, perhaps not a three-hour tour, but a nice safe voyage from island to island. The ship’s navigator, one Jemma Redclaw, had other plans.

She seemed friendly. No hint of dastard to be seen.

Your first night aboard, as you slept the sleep of the naive, Redclaw and her hand-picked band of sailors mutinied. You woke up on a pirate ship as esteemed guests. Guests who were forced to participate in a seemingly endless series of near-fatal encounters with sharks, a brine dragon, a disgusting undead former captain, sharks, every angry animal on this side of the world, a lady who seemed to be one-third octopus, one-third seacat, and one-third humanoid. You’ll be having nightmares about that last one for a while.

After dispensing with Captain Redclaw and her scurrilous band, you realized that a pirate’s life can be a good one. You’ve got your own ship, your own crew (who seem to understand the laws of personal hygiene in a way that Redclaw’s mates, unfortunately, did not), and your eye on the horizon.

Next week, we’ll talk about Love Plots and the naming of scenarios.

Before we go, though, a note from Vic Wertz about Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 4:

Due to a printer error, adventure deck 4 of Skull & Shackles, Island of Empty Eyes, included 6 copies of the henchman Gholdako and 1 copy of the henchman Ghol-Gan Obelisk; it should have had 6 Ghol-Gan Obelisks and 1 Gholdako. And due to our own error, it has 1 fewer Blink Spider than you’ll need when you have 6 players.

We’re going to solve this problem by making a pack of cards that includes 5 Ghol-Gan Obelisks, 1 Blink Spider, and—in the interest of turning lemons into lemonade—The Land of the Blind, a brand-new scenario that makes use of those extra Gholdako cards.  We’ll be providing that for free to customers who purchased Island of Empty Eyes from paizo.com, and we’ll also be sending copies through our distributors as well. With luck, we’ll have them in time to send them out along with January’s release of Adventure Deck 5, The Price of Infamy.

In the meantime, when you play the scenario "Home Sweet Home," we suggest proxying with Buccaneers (that is, setting the Ghol-Gan Obelisk to the side, adding Buccaneers to the location decks instead, and referring to the Obelisk whenever you find a Buccaneer).

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Tips for Holiday PACG-ing

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Can you smell the season's tidings in the air? No, not the crisp-cold scent of pine logs in your neighbor's fireplace in the wintry morning breeze. It's the smell of fresh ink and cardstock. Welcome to that special time of year, boon and bane to gamers everywhere.

With BGG.CON behind us, we wave goodbye to another convention season as all the treasures they promised now appear in Friendly Local Game Stores across the land. Our arms are laden with new games to play and hope for a long snow day lingers on our bright, eager faces—board game season is here!

As holiday schedules wreak havoc on dedicated adventuring groups, there's treasure to be snatched from Old Man Winter's icy grip... if you dare! Or, to put it another way, no one wants to spend another family gathering sulking in the corner and searching her pudding for plums when there's adventuring to be done!

Tip 1: Play with Strangers! (or as strange as you can get)

Have you played PACG with strangers yet? I highly recommend it. It's the fun of Pathfinder in bite-sized, no-DM-needed pieces in a handy, portable box. Organized play through the Adventure Card Guild also has the magical power to be more fun than it should be, even with the most incongruous of game groups. This is where I could ramble on about the nuances of the cooperative game design principles that guided the game's development, but let's just say a wizard did it. And no, Mike Selinker is not actually a wizard. (He's a sorcerer—it's a nuanced but important distinction.)

One of the best parts of my job is getting to play games with all kinds of people. BGG.CON was especially delightful, getting to play with fans of the game and new players alike. I got to outrun ghosts with a power gamer whose character deck is tuned like a well-oiled machine. I hammered Hammerheads with a father and daughter pair who, much to their delight, won with a pirate (as Jirelle the swashbuckler) and uncovered buried treasure while sporting both an Eye Patch and a Parrot.

Little known fact: any single character can win Skull & Shackles by displaying perfect pirate fashion sense.

Tip 2: Try Organized Play

So your regular gaming group is in shambles this month because one does not simply incur the disappointment of grandmas. Or, locked in your wintry fortress, you've already played through the S&S adventures so far. Enter the glorious balm of Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild scenarios, played in your very own home!

Slip them into your Base Set on their own (for an off-the-books experience) or play with Class Decks and the Guide to Adventure Card Guild Organized Play. You can break out Card Guild scenarios for a quick dose of fresh PACG without the guilt of cheating on your regular adventuring group. Would Sir or Madam enjoy a shark-hunting rampage? Might I suggest Season of the Shackles Scenario 1-B: The Lone Shark?

Tip 3: Snow Day Marathon!

Forget the cold and gloom outside; spend your snow day with hot toddies and hours free to chase down villains all over the Shackles. How far can you get through the Skull & Shackles adventure path in one day?

Don't have a snow day? No problem. 'Tis the season for holing up with friends on a weekend once the gilded lights come down. (Who am I kidding? I consider it an accomplishment if I clear up the decorations by Valentine's.) Happy Board Game Season, everybody!

Liz Spain
Adventure Card Game Designer

Dispatches from the Front: Adventure Card Guild in the Wild

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Hello, Pathfinders.

Last night, the Lone Shark crew and I headed to Uncle's Games in Bellevue for a soft launch of the Adventure Card Guild. Despite short notice, we had several people come out to play games with us, and we all got to sit down and play with fans.

Now you see me, now you don't! *poof* Ruh-roh.

Jumping into the deep end.

Forumite zeroth_hour and I sat down to play the first Card Guild scenario, Ghosts of the Deep. He brought a well-built Agna, and I, being an idiot, decided that the Mental-focused sorcerer Qualzar would be an excellent choice for a scenario full of undead.

Despite my opting us into hardcore mode, zeroth_hour defeated our former captain Arron Ivy a full turn before Qualzar would've bitten the dust. Victory!

Mike's Zarlova and GaryGaby's Lem also survived despite Mike's legendary die-rolling prowess. Chad's table of new players, who opted to try the organized play scenario because they are awesome, convinced the fine folks at Uncle's to stay open a bit later so they too could emerge triumphant.

I'd like to thank Morgan from Uncle's and Big Kyle and Tony from our incredible volunteer army for making this event happen. Share your Adventure Card Guild launch stories in the comments!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Secrets (and Setbacks) Revealed: Adventure Card Guild and Iconic Heroes Miniatures

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Greetings, Pathfinders.

Bad news, to me, is like mayonnaise—unpalatable on its own, but a mere unpleasant surprise when it sneaks into the middle of an otherwise delicious sandwich. So your mayo in this blog post can be found in the middle, surrounded by tasty fixins'.

Card Game Tuesdays

The card game team is excited to announce the beginning of the Tuesday card game blog series! Various members of the team will pop in here each week and give you the latest and greatest news and ramblings about new releases, Adventure Card Guild organized play, and whatever else we think you'd enjoy reading. This blog is the first in that series.

Adventure Card Guild Sneak Peek

Avast! Sharks sighted on the starboard bow! Something's stirred up a shoal of sharks. You've seen their fins swimming alongside your ship for days, and sharks are as patient as they are hungry. Could it be that someone else is swimming alongside them?

You'll find out in Scenario 1-2 of Season of the Shackles, The Lone Shark.

DURING THIS SCENARIO

Put the Shark Island location card in the center of the table. Using the deck list from Shark Island, make a number of Shark Island stacks equal to the number of characters. Treat each of these stacks as a unique Shark Island location deck.

duunnn duunn... duuuun duunn...

Adventure Card Guild Launch Delayed

Unfortunately (and probably due to a sudden spike in shark attacks), the Class Decks required for Adventure Card Guild play will not be making it to your local retailer until next week. Season of the Shackles will launch next Wednesday, October 1st.

We're as disappointed as you are, but we strongly encourage you to stop by your friendly local game store this week so you can play On the Horizon, our new preview scenario. For this scenario, all that's needed is the Skull & Shackles base set, as the scenario's meant to be played with Skull & Shackles characters. Players will earn a free deck upgrade for their Adventure Card Guild character in the form of a mini-Chronicle sheet!

Iconic Heroes and the Adventure Card Game

Finally, to wash down the taste of that nasty mayo, I've got a spoiler from the upcoming line of WizKids' Iconic Heroes miniatures line and the associated promo cards for the card game. Behold Alahazra, prophet of the burning sands:

Fear my big pointy thing!

Weal? Woe? Those are for amateurs.

I have a bit of a thing for hats. Expect more hats.

Until next time,

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Hey, Pathfinders.

I'm pleased, proud, and exhausted to announce that the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide to Organized Play is now available for download! The card game team and our estimable Venture Officer community have put in many hours to bring this document to you, so we hope you enjoy it. We'll have printed copies available to read for those of you playing in the program at Gen Con, but for now, grab the PDF and get to reading!

If you're coming to Gen Con but don't have tickets for the sold-out Adventure Card Guild events, we might still be able to seat you with a generic ticket if you come to room 232 in the convention center. I recommend coming 15 minutes before slot start time to see if we can accommodate you.

Gen Con 2014 Adventure Card Guild Event Schedule

Thursday: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM

As announced last weekend, due to a necessary delay in Class Deck shipments, Adventure Card Guild play will begin on Wednesday, September 3 at a store near you, with new scenarios released each Wednesday (except for Christmas and New Year's Eve Day) for the rest of the six-month Season of the Shackles! Don't see your store in the locator? Then they're not part of the program yet! Tell them to sign up and make sure they check the box to tell us they want to participate in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild!

One more thing...

This arrived literally minutes ago.

See you all soon!

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Late to Class

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Greetings, Pathfinders.

We hope you're excited for the launch of the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild—we certainly are!

Unfortunately, we've had some very bad news this week from our card printer. They had a problem with one of their presses, and many of the Class Decks they printed had to be destroyed. As a result, the retail release date for the Class Decks is moving from August 14 to September 3, and we won't be able to ship paizo.com preorders until shortly before that. And because you must have a Class Deck to participate in the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild, that means that retailers won't be able to launch the program until September 3.

The good news is that this won't stop us from launching the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild at Gen Con next week. Our friends at DriveThru Cards are rushing to print versions of the Class Decks that we can use in the Adventure Card Guild room, and we'll be providing printed character sheets for the characters you choose so you can register your character on Paizo.com and keep track of your rewards and deck upgrades as normal.

Our printer is also working to deliver some finished decks to Gen Con, though they may not arrive until later in the show. We promised a free Class Deck to any player who purchased 4 or more Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild events, and we will make those available for pickup in the PFSACG room as soon as they arrive. (And if the official decks arrive too late for someone to pick up, we will take that person's name and address and ship the chosen Class Deck as soon as copies arrive in our warehouse.).

We're very sorry about this situation, but we are committed to delivering the full amount of fun that everyone expected to have, albeit not on our desired schedule.

We still expect to have the Skull and Shackles Base Set and Character Add-On Decks to be available for purchase in the dealer hall, as well as all the available play mats and card sleeves from our partners at Ultra PRO.

Please use the thread below to ask any questions you need answered.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

The Usual Suspects: Class Decks Preview

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Gather round, Pathfinders. I've got some secrets to share with you. It's the story of an unlikely group of adventurers whose journeys took them into the Eye of Abendego, out to the Worldwound, and beyond. How does the story end? Well, that's up to you to decide...

The Courtier

Graceful, talented, and beautiful, Siwar has ingratiated herself into the highest courts of the River Kingdoms. She is knowledgeable in topics ranging from art to politics and is highly schooled in etiquette. Though her talents might lead an observer to think that she is too delicate for the adventuring life, Siwar is happy to make eye contact with that observer, smile impishly, and direct him to do her bidding.

Siwar Illustration by Florian Stitz

The Scholar

In the city of Oenopion, Zarlova is a well-known professor at the Hive, an academy of wizards and clerics working in concert to unravel mysteries left by the god Nethys. A master of The Book of Magic, Zarlova routinely ventures from the halls of academe to spread knowledge among the unenlightened. Her mastery of offensive magic makes her a valued ally on any adventure.

Zarlova Illustration by Tim Kings-Lynne

The Legbreaker

Tontelizi's rough-and-tumble past began with a stint as an enforcer in his family's shady business. Because of his short stature, some mocked him with the nickname "Legbreaker." They soon found their ability to walk severely compromised. After retiring from daily enforcement detail, Tontelizi found himself missing the simple pleasures of maiming and intimidation. He now wields his polearm as a mercenary for fun and profit.

Tontelizi Illustration by Jorge Fares

The Gamekeeper

Dwarves laboring in the mines of Kalsgard have limited exposure to the animals of the forest, but Agna has trained in the wilderness, and she's introduced many beasts to the lands below the earth. Ready to fight with a weapon in either hand, Agna can make you think she's your biggest threat, right before a trained bear attacks you from behind.

Agna Illustration by Eva Widermann

The Death Whisperer

Wu Shen loves death as if it were an actual person. She speaks of death as "her lover," and listeners may mistakenly believe she is referring to a mortal. Each time she brings a monster to its grisly end, she savors a moment of hope that death will acknowledge her as its favorite. To add spice to her devotional gifts, Wu Shen often chooses unique or difficult ways to complete her kills.

Wu Shen Illustration by Alex Tooth

The Trickster

Qualzar's heritage includes mischievous fey who curdle milk, tie shoelaces together, and generally make nuisances of themselves. He claims to not understand why others find his humor malicious, but in truth, he doesn't care. He's willing to hurt others for the sake of a pun or a punch line, and he's got a book of plucked fairy wings to prove it. His mind-melting spell blasts and mesmeric powers are almost always turned on enemies, so it's probably safe to adventure with him.

Qualzar Illustration by Kostja Schleger

The Necromancer

The power of the dead courses through Darago's thin veins. It's a rare wizard who can traffic with the unliving and retain most of his soul, but so far, Darago has resisted the baser desires of most necromancers. Still, his chilling voice and devilish sense of humor will surprise even the most hardened mercenary. After all, he will happily battle at the side of any adventure while she lives... and perhaps for a short time thereafter.

Darago Illustration by Diana Martinez

I hope you've enjoyed this preview of some of the new characters and cards found in the Class Decks. Preorder one now and get ready for the Adventure Card Guild, launching in just two weeks!

Also, make sure you check out Erik Mona's Publisher Preview on the Paizo blog this Friday. (It's a weekly blog that mostly talks about Pathfinder Battles pre-painted plastic miniatures.) Pathfinder Adventure Card Game players, be they miniatures lovers or not, are going to want to read this week's installment.

Tanis O'Connor
Adventure Card Game Designer

Think Different: A Look at Some Changes to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Apologies in advance, as this blog entry is going to get a bit arcane. No, I don't mean it's not rechargeable by a Divine spellcaster—I mean this article is meant for Pathfinder Adventure Card Game rules enthusiasts. I'm going to define the differences between the PACG rules a year ago and the ones we have now, possibly in excruciating detail. You've been warned.

When we set out to design the new Skull & Shackles sets and the Class Decks, we had heard many players pointing out ways our game could improve. We were faced with a fork in the road. Choosing Path One meant leaving everything alone and forging ahead with what we had created as is. That was the path of least resistance, requiring very little explanation, but keeping in place some things that were confusing about our game. Choosing Path Two required us to change those things and explain them in a blog like this one. I think you folks are good enough pathfinders that you know which one we picked.

So, yeah, some things are going to look a little different from now on. These are not the kinds of things we're going to issue errata for; everything works pretty much the same as it did in Rise of the Runelords. But the new cards will look just a bit different. Here are some of the highlights.

To start out, let's look at two versions of the weapon Longbow: the first one is from Rise of the Runelords, and the second is from the Ranger Class Deck.

There are some minor differences here. The first is the replacement of the phrase "roll your Dexterity or Ranged die" with "use your Dexterity or Ranged skill." In Skull & Shackles, "skill" always refers to your base die (say, a d8) plus any skill feats or bonuses you might have. If Harsk is using the Longbow with Ranged: Dexterity d8+2, and he has two +1 skill feats in Dexterity, his Ranged skill is d8+4. The concept of the "unmodified" die is also gone: when we say "die" now, we always mean just the die. So if Harsk is using the Longbow, and he has Strength: d6 and one +1 skill feat in Strength, adding the Strength die to his Ranged skill means he adds the d6 and ignores the feat, just as before. The wording is more specific, but the math hasn't changed at all.

A subtler change on the card is replacing the word "a" with "any" in the last power. This makes it a bit more clear that it applies to checks other than your own.

Okay, now for a couple of spells. Here's the Runelords version of Force Missile and the new one from the Wizard Class Deck.

There are two big changes here. Most visibly, the recharge box is gone. Players seemed to get confused by the recharge box, including figuring out when to apply that power, so we built the recharge power into the powers box. With luck, people won't be baffled by that any more.

Reading the text, you'll note that the power no longer tells you to apply the Force trait. That's because this rule is clearly stated in the rulebook:

Some cards may allow you to replace the required skill for a check with a different one. As part of this action, you may play only 1 card or use only 1 power that defines the skill you are going to use. When you play a card that does this, add that card's traits to the check.

So Force Missile still adds the Force trait to your combat check (along with the Magic, Arcane, Attack, and Basic traits)—it just doesn't spell it out in a way that suggests it's somehow different from those other traits.

Now let's compare two scary ladies: the Hook Mountain Hag from "The Hook Mountain Massacre" and the Sea Hag from the Skull & Shackles Base Set.

In Runelords, things that happened "before the encounter" really happened during the encounter, after you had a chance to evade the card. In Skull & Shackles, there’s a new step called "acting," which includes everything that happens after you choose not to evade a card up until the encounter is resolved. Things can happen before you act, while you act, and after you act. Here’s the rulebook text on the "before you act" step.

Apply Any Effects That Happen Before You Act. If any powers on the card you're encountering happen before you act, they take effect at this time. You may also use powers or cards that state they can be used before you act.

Another change here is replacing the phrase "spells with the Attack trait" with "spells that have the Attack trait." The meaning of "with" was not clear enough: did it mean you couldn't play a spell that itself had the Attack trait, or did it mean you couldn't play a spell in conjunction with any card that gave the Attack trait to the check? The new wording makes it clear that the intent is the former.

A side note on henchman cards: The rule about henchmen automatically allowing you to close a location after you defeat one is gone from the rulebook. If a henchman allows you to close the location when it's defeated, it says so in its power; if not, it doesn't. (I expect you won't like the ones that don't. They're called Curses, and we'll leave them for another day.)

Here are two boons: the ally Jakardros Sovark from "The Hook Mountain Massacre" and the item Ring of the Beasts from "The Wormwood Mutiny".

In Runelords, you'd occasionally see a card that helped a combat check "against" a monster. That term "against" was never defined, but it benefited from some definition, because it could also apply to checks of other sorts. Now, the new phrase "check against a card" applies to any check the card mandates. The rule is:

If a card refers to a check against another card, that refers to any check required by that card, whether it's a check to defeat, a check to acquire, a check to recharge, or any other check.

Here's the Collapsed Ceiling, a card I kinda wish we didn't put in Runelords, because it needed rules support that the game did not provide. That's been solved, so you'll see a lot of cards like Goose in the Rigging from "The Wormwood Mutiny".

It was frustrating not to be able to answer all the questions associated with Collapsed Ceiling. For example, it wasn't clear what happened when you had two faceup cards on the deck or when something suggested you shuffle one of them into the deck. The Skull & Shackles rules now tell you how to handle cards like this.

Faceup Cards: Sometimes a card is left faceup on the top of the location deck (for example, most barriers with the Task trait work this way). The card is still in the deck, but it can only be shuffled into the deck when the condition that caused it to be left faceup on the deck has been resolved. If such a card tells you that you must encounter it on your first exploration on a turn, then after that exploration, ignore it for the purpose of additional explorations that turn; however, it still counts as the top card of the deck for any other purpose. If multiple cards are left faceup on the same deck, you may place them in any order and encounter them in that order.

Finally, let's look at one of the most bizarre cards in Runelords: the Runeforged Weapons loot card from "Sins of the Saviors".

You see that word SPECIAL? You see it twice on the card? Protip: That's a sign that a game designer hasn't made up his mind what he's doing. This card quite honestly had no idea what it was. That's because we designed it before we had the rules tech to make it work. But now we do. If Skull & Shackles had existed before Runelords, Runeforged Weapons would certainly have been a support card. Support cards are a new type of card that's neither bane nor boon. We talked about them in our last Skull & Shackles preview; basically, their job is to sit on the table and affect the game. This is what Runeforged Weapons might look like if it was issued today.

We've also made a number of less obvious changes to the rulebook—reorganizing things and rewriting things—that make it clearer and easier to use than the Rise of the Runelords rulebook. We recommend that you use it as your main rules reference even if you're still playing Rise of the Runelords—just ignore all that stuff about ships.

Download the Skull & Shackles Rulebook PDF here! — (6.2 MB zip/PDF)

Mike Selinker
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Designer