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Starfinder Society: Ethical Anthropology

Jul 17, 2019, 03:00 pm

When I first participated in Pathfinder Society, one of the selling points was that the Society was a league of archaeologists—just like me! Granted, the Pathfinders are sword-swinging, spell-slinging scallywags who tend not to show much respect for their host cultures, all while endeavoring to find the most exciting treasures in pursuit of fame and public acclaim. Fortunately, that’s not how real archaeologists behave, right?

Starfinder Society: Ethical Anthropology

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Please note - This blog includes some real-world critiques and history references that shape why some Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society scenarios feature the narratives they do. This blog also has some spoilers for Starfinder Society Scenario #1-13: On the Trail of History. The major spoilers are hidden behind a spoiler tag, but there are some thematic spoilers in the blog’s main text.

Good? Read on!

When I first participated in Pathfinder Society, one of the selling points was that the Society was a league of archaeologists—just like me! Granted, the Pathfinders are sword-swinging, spell-slinging scallywags who tend not to show much respect for their host cultures, all while endeavoring to find the most exciting treasures in pursuit of fame and public acclaim. Fortunately, that’s not how real archaeologists behave, right?

…Right?

The answer’s complicated. While the fields of modern anthropology and archaeology have come a long way, there have been and still remain plenty of valid critiques. Anthropology students learn about the rather cavalier excavations of the 18th and 19th centuries (and in some cases into the 20th and even 21st centuries) that celebrated impressive finds while destroying irreparable context; the prejudiced lenses through which early, predominantly white, anthropologists studied unfamiliar cultures; and the ways in which biased studies and unrefined processes erased swaths of archaeological evidence, downplayed (or misinterpreted) other societies’ accomplishments, and shaped foreign perceptions and policies in a way that othered and hurt the people studied.

Through exposure, we also learn to parse the ways in which popular culture like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider highlight the destructive and treasure-hunting elements while largely ignoring the delicate research that forms the foundation of archaeology. This “pulp” archaeology is a mixed bag. On one hand it builds excitement for travel and archaeology. On the other hand, it glorifies the violence, looting, destruction, and egos that have caused so much damage. No matter how loudly one shouts “This belongs in a museum,” it won’t repair the wreckage a pulp archaeologist leaves in their wake.

So that’s a lot of baggage tied up in anthropology, and by extension, that baggage is an element that the Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society alike inherit. When we tell stories about studying Thassilon, sneaking around the remains of Shory cities, or recovering a lost relic from Sarkorian ruins, we’re tapping into that same pulp archaeology context. And those are moments that invite self-reflection. Is my character understanding this culture filtered through the character’s (or my own) perspective? How does this unfamiliar culture view my daring swashbuckling deeds through their ancestral lands, and will my chronicle of this adventure feature my voice or theirs? Should I have cast fireball into that room decorated with millennia-old murals? And y’know, sometimes the answers are “But there were zombies” and “I’m an adventurer,” and one of the big reasons we play tabletop roleplaying games is to be awesome by using our PCs’ class abilities.

As the lead on the organized play campaigns’ creative content, though, I’ve made it my business to weave in some of the big questions and controversies from the past centuries of anthropology. Fortunately, from a strictly narrative perspective, these questions and controversies make for some excellent stories; there’s little denying that pulp archaeology’s exciting. But the PCs’ actions also have consequences, and I do hope that the dilemmas we include in scenarios are an opportunity to empathize and tackle tough choices while in a safe environment. And at the end of the day, even if the in-world Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society aren’t good-aligned organizations, they sure as heck don’t surrender their moral compasses when in the field.

And that’s the bet that Thurston Hillman and I took more than a year ago when we brainstormed Starfinder Society Scenario #1-13: On the Trail of History. The adventure involves the PCs traveling to a distant planet to solve an important mystery, and the investigation ultimately leads to contact with the planet’s native sapient life forms: izalguuns, six-limbed beings believed to be quite primitive and simple by the few scientists stationed on that world (and also izalguuns are appearing in the upcoming Starfinder Alien Archive 3). But not only do the izalguuns have their secrets, but they also present a choice during the adventure.

Illustration by Graey Erb

[Deeper spoilers and consequences for “On the Trail of History”]

The izalguuns are one of the species that left the Scoured Stars system untold generations ago, fleeing the supernatural force that inhabited that system. Although once very sophisticated technologically, the izalguuns settled on this new planet, purposefully chose to live simpler and more secretive lives, and now use their advanced technology in more subtle ways. While the izalguuns are amenable to helping the PCs solve the mystery that inspired the adventure in the first place, this people wish to live in peace and solitude.

That creates quite the conundrum to academics like the Starfinders. On one hand, honoring the izalguuns’ wishes costs nothing. On the other hand, such an advanced and previously under-appreciated alien species represents a bonanza of academic renown for the enterprising ethnographers willing to publish their findings about the izalguuns anyway. At the end of the adventure, the PCs have to make that choice: respect or glory? If the PCs choose to respect the izalguuns’ wishes, that’s great, but choosing to out the izalguuns’ secret existence to the galaxy earns the PCs a special and lucrative boon on the scenario’s Chronicle sheet!

So, the message is to…sell out foreign cultures for money and academic tenure?

No. Choices have consequences, and scenarios have reporting notes. Remember those check boxes that the GM fills out when reporting played scenarios on paizo.com? We examine that data to help shape the campaign’s stories and future scenarios. When Thursty and I devised this scenario, we agreed that the izalguuns would make for a good playable PC race in Starfinder. I also convinced him that this would be a good opportunity to see whether the Starfinder Society would be as upstanding as First Seeker Luwzi Elsebo would hope.

So, we formed a pact. In 2019 I would check the reporting data and write a blog about ethical anthropology and On the Trail of History. If the reporting data showed the Starfinders had revealed the izalguuns’ existence to the Pact Worlds in order to profit off the discovery, scores of academics would travel to that planet to study the izalguuns and violate the boundaries the izalguuns had established. The izalguuns would know that the Starfinder Society had betrayed their trust and forswear dealing with the Society ever again. On the other hand, if the Starfinders respected the izalguuns’ wishes, there may come a time that their more adventurous kin would want to explore the galaxy and join the same organization that showed such integrity before.

That’s right: the reporting data would determine whether or not izalguuns would ever be a playable race in Starfinder Society.

[The Results]

You made us proud.

A very clear majority of groups reported respecting the izalguuns’ wishes by keeping their culture and technology a secret. More than a year later, the first izalguuns have traveled to Absalom Station in the wake of the Society’s victory at the Scoured Stars, and these aliens are joining the Starfinders ranks even now.

Beginning on August 28th, the street date for Starfinder Alien Archive 3, izalguuns will be an always-available playable race in the Starfinder Society campaign! As always, you’ll need a copy of the book in which they appear, as they’ll be appearing in the Additional Resources list.

And to answer a likely question: yes, this is the type of event we might repeat in the future, but probably not for a while longer, and probably even then it would take a slightly different form. Does that mean you should be exuberantly ethical in all of your choices in Starfinder Society? Certainly my inner anthropologist would love that, but I encourage you to play awesome characters of diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives because that’s part of what makes the game fun.

Over the course of the Starfinder Society campaign, the team’s enjoyed including more opportunities to review reporting data, incorporate players’ ideas and PCs into the stories, and overall encourage a more “living campaign” feel. Seeing this particular story to its conclusion has been especially exciting, and we’re equally excited to consider how your choices in this adventure might affect future scenarios.

If you’re interested in exploring more archaeological themes and controversies, I encourage you to check out the following adventures. Their spoiler tags include modest spoiler information, so peek at your own risk!

[Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-14: Faithless and Forgotten, Part 2: Lost Colony of Taldor]

This scenario tackles the way in which nation states have sometimes used archaeology—either by funding expeditions or by creatively interpreting independent findings—to reinforce their own dominance or historical narratives. Cheliax hopes that the Pathfinders will conclude the adventure site was once a Taldan colony, reinforcing Cheliax’s claim to the surrounding territory.

[Pathfinder Society Special #8-99: The Solstice Scar]

This story’s premise begins with a “civilized” expedition stealing a sacred relic, believing it more important that the relic be kept in a museum rather than remaining in the hands of its “primitive” creator culture.

[Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-08: Birthright Betrayed]

Calhadion Vernisant’s leveraging historical connections to fuel his own political career is less immediately archaeological but is nonetheless an illustration of how underhanded individuals can reinterpret and re-present the past in order to further a modern agenda.

[Pathfinder Society Special #10-00: The Hao Jin Cataclysm]

One of the tough realities of archaeology—and to an extent anthropology as a whole—is that ancient sites don’t always wait around to be found. When a large building project or impending environmental shift means that an area might never again be accessible, it calls for salvage archaeology: a speedy triage of the sites and accelerated excavation to recover and preserve as much information about the doomed sites as possible. In the case of the Hao Jin Tapestry demiplane, the whole place is quickly collapsing, and part of Season 10 is based on the principles of salvage archaeology.

[Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-14: Debt to the Quah]

No matter how professional the organization, there are invariably some bad actors. This adventure addresses the academic and ethical abuses performed by a Pathfinder in Varisia. His destructive exploration, desecration of bodies, and outright misrepresentation of the culture that built the site in question haven’t just wrecked an important tomb; he’s also threatened future expeditions by offending the local cultures. And like in the real world, someone has to repair those bridges and offer reparations.

Join us next week as the organized play team previews the upcoming offerings.

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

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Tags: Graey Erb Organized Play Starfinder Society

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January 2019 Starfinder Society Releases

Jan 24, 2019, 02:00 pm

With the month of January a whole new year begins, but we're still making our way through the final months of Starfinder Society's first season. I'm excited that this month starts a very real countdown of sorts to our end-of-season finale interactive special. While the team isn't quite ready to start talking about our second interactive (more later, I promise) there are some major scenarios coming up this month that start us towards our season's end.

January 2019 Starfinder Society Releases

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Illustration by Nicolas Espinoza

Let me start by saying, that despite its name, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-30: Survivor's Salvation is not a scenario that continues the story of Salvation's End (though we'll be going back to that place in due time). Author, Kiel Howell, presented this scenario to the organized play team as an exploration into something that we've got a lot of questions about since the events of the Scoured Stars: how Starfinders cope with the stresses of their occupation. Called by Zigvigix to investigate the disappearance of a fellow Exo-Guardian who spent the better part of a year within the Scoured Stars, the PCs get to see some topics addressed that we don't tend to see in our typical scenarios. Now, it wouldn't be a real scenario without a threat and a bit of a sci-fi twist to things, so for those more interested in pulling out laser guns and shooting at threats… well, Kiel's got you covered!

Onto our second scenario!

Continuing to explore the repercussions of the Scoured Stars, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-31: Treading History's Folly has the PCs retrace the steps of First Seeker Jadnura, returning to the site where he uncovered one of the mysterious Tear relics that would lead to the Society into the Scoured Stars. Vanessa Hoskins brings us a delightful look into Jadnura's past actions, as well as information that should delight those who've been following the Scoured Stars story over the course of our first season. There were moments when developing this scenario that I had chills from some of the information we were finally getting out into player and GM hands. Similarly, this scenario also goes on to remind people of a few other mysteries that we intend to showcase over the remaining months leading up to our finale interactive.

Illustration by Graey Erb

To further spur on our contingent of dedicated Starfinder conspiracy theorists, let me share one other lovely new piece of art. I can honestly say it's going to factor in quite a bit over the course of our coming scenarios. Whatever could it be?

Alrighty, that's it for January's release! As I write this, I'm going through development on February's scenarios and am already excited to talk about those. Though next month won't continue the Scoured Stars story as much as this month, I'm excited on some of the other storylines we get to follow-up on. Expect to hear back from me in a month with an update on the Dataphiles ongoing efforts and the appearance of a well-known Dead Suns Adventure Path character asking the PCs for help with a bit of a diplomatic endeavor.

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

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To the Society’s Success in 2018!

Dec 26, 2018, 12:00 pm

When we thought of the topic of today's blog, we intended it to cover a variety of topics. But as we started writing, there were so many fantastic scenarios to highlight that the words just kept coming. So instead of splitting focus, I'll save my words for next week and turn the keyboard to Organized Play Lead Developer John Compton, as he summarizes the highlights from our 2018 Society products. To all our players worldwide, thank you for making our communities vibrant places of play. Cheers and Happy Holidays!

To the Society’s Success in 2018!

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Illustration by Benjamin Widdowson

2018 brought a lot of change, and with change comes a lot of work. Thankfully we expanded the organized play team further this year, bringing on board Michael Sayre to develop Pathfinder Society scenarios and power us into Season 10's exciting stories. This has allowed the team as a whole to meet the demand for more Starfinder Society content (increasing our publication rate to two per month), create four Pathfinder Playtest scenarios, develop playtest surveys, and shape the future of Pathfinder Society as a campaign. Starfinder Society wouldn't be what it is without Thurston Hillman's creativity and long hours. All the while, Linda Zayas-Palmer has handled so many scenarios while simultaneously taking the lead on Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild adventures.

It's probably because of all of this new activity and new content that 2018's seemed so long! Let's see some of the highlights!

Pathfinder Society

First off, we had Pathfinder Society's the Season of Faction's Favor to wrap up, and that meant delivering scenarios that addressed ongoing faction storylines in big ways. The Liberty's Edge faction launched a daring raid into Galt as the Exchange flexed its economic muscles at long last to crush an unjust operation in the Mwangi Expanse. The Dark Archive dug into the foundational lore of the Blakros Museum, one of the campaign's oldest touchstones, as the Silver Crusade returned from Heaven (no biggie) in time to crush a fiendish invasion. The newly incorporated Concordance faction's hit the ground running by shutting down extraplanar rifts and cosmic anomalies, and the Scarab Sages have settled on their laurels for the time being after 2017's powerful capstone scenario.

Illustration by Dion Harris

The Sovereign Court had a big payoff in major crossover event with the War for the Crown Adventure Path, culminating in an opportunity to play out one of our most dramatic scenes of the year from multiple perspectives. But perhaps most notably of all, the Society at last tracked down several of its oldest foes, defeating them decisively in the name of the Grand Lodge and Pathfinder Society. There's so much going on that it's hard to really focus any one Season 9 scenario, so follow the links and dig in for a wonderful experience.

Season 10 kicked off in style, and the team's been relishing the opportunity to revisit some of the favorite storylines and characters. Far and away, one of the most dramatic must be Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-09: The Rasping Rebirth by Cole Kronewitter, which not only addresses what the state of the Worldwound is since Season 5, but it also allows the PCs to confront one of the campaign's greatest villains as players have been requesting since, oh, the third scenario I ever developed. We've worked to make choices matter in scenarios, and Cole delivered a scenario that includes one of my absolute favorite and powerful choices in the whole campaign.

This has also been a year for exploring hitherto untouched realms, made all the more possible by Mike Sayre's personal expertise. This really came through in Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-03: Death on the Ice by Scott Young, taking us far north into the Crown of the World to resolve a dangerous issue resulting from bad translations—remember to put a few ranks in Linguistics!

But it's hard to overshadow the season's interactive special debut. Veteran author Mike Kimmel stepped up to deliver one of the sharpest specials yet with Pathfinder Society Special #10-00: The Hao Jin Cataclysm. It kicked off the latest troubles in the Hao Jin Tapestry demiplane with style, allowing us to revisit so many old plot threads in compelling vignettes that collectively told a much bigger story. It benefited all the more from Linda taking the role of development lead and bringing a fresh perspective to interactive specials that made this adventure's energy all the greater.

Starfinder Society

Ah, did someone say multi-table interactive specials? Starfinder Society—driven largely by the development talents of Thurston Hillman—marked another milestone in the young-yet-acclaimed campaign by launching its first large-scale event, Starfinder Society Special #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion by Mikko Kallio. The Scoured Stars even has claimed the center stage in the ongoing Starfinder Society narrative, and Mikko not only gave us one heck of a space opera confrontation but also did so in a way that kept transitions smooth by introducing new opportunities as the House did well, creating an experience in which the players (not the scenario) really controlled the pacing.

Illustration by Graey Erb

When I think of influential scenarios, though, there are some absolute rock stars—literally. Since she wrote the very first Starfinder Society scenario, Eleanor Ferron's had the players demanding more of the in-world pop band Strawberry Machine Cake, and she delivered a spiritual sequel with Starfinder Society Scenario #1-14: Star Sugar Heartlove. I think it's really illustrative of the wonderful real-world tropes we get to play with in Starfinder, and Thursty and I often throw scenario ideas at each that seem like satirical jokes, only to realize that they're perfect for the setting and a few stat blocks away from becoming fan-favorite adventures. The ever-handsome Vossi is truly the mascot of this potential as he stars in Starfinder Society Scenario #1-15: Save the Renkrodas by Vanessa Hoskins, who brought this delightful "Save the Whales" concept to life. Likewise, it seems everyone's trying to be a celebrity after the reality tv show antics of Starfinder Society Scenario #1-09: Live Exploration Extreme!

But you know what might just win for the most influential scenario of 2018? Which one inspired the cries of "where can I find a mini for this" followed by a hundred epiphanies of "I'll make my own and bring it to PaizoCon"? It's the same scenario that brought us the blubbery majesty of morlamaws, often remembered as "those psychedelic walruses." That's right, it's Starfinder Society Scenario #1-08: Sanctuary of Drowned Delights by Kate Baker.

Art

We focus a lot on the authors and stories when we tell these stories, yet we'd be remiss if we overlooked the artists who illustrate our favorite villains, heroes, beasts, and scallywags—and the graphic designers who make our scenarios so beautiful. Senior graphic designer Emily Crowell has led the charge in evolving Pathfinder Society's look and layout, creating so many pregenerated character and Chronicle sheet variants as we've continually tinkered with their design. Her work makes me excited about the Second Edition and the ways in which we can streamline our tracking sheets and make our pregenerated characters more intuitive.

Illustration by Graey Erb

As for illustrators, I've included some of our favorite pieces from the year. I also want to call attention to Graey Erb for his extraordinary work in breathing life into many of our most iconic creatures and characters. Most noteworthy among these is the jinsul, the arch-nemesis of the Starfinder Society during Season 1. Thursty and I came up with a basic visual concept for the jinsuls, all the while praying that our art brief would translate well into the final image, and we were blown away by result. I'm also appreciative of how senior graphic designer Adam Vick has strengthened our campaign's visual continuity by having the same illustrator depict multiple facets of a planet, species, or society. In this way Graey's really made jinsuls his own unrighteous terrors.

Learn about him and our other talented illustrators in our preview blogs (we make a point to credit them), follow them on social media, support their work, and let them know you appreciate their illustrations in the latest scenarios!

It's been a great year, and we're looking ahead to a wonderful 2019!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

Join us next week for the first Society blog of 2019, which brings our next round of kudos.

Until next time -Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

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Tags: Benjamin Widdowson Dion Harris Graey Erb Hannah Boving Organized Play Pathfinder Society Sebastian Rodriguez Starfinder Society

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November 2018 Starfinder Society Releases

Nov 21, 2018, 04:00 pm

November's a cold month up here in the wilds of Canada, and as I developed this month's scenarios, I found that I developed a growing obsession with them. While I didn't quite grow a beard or batter down any doors with axes, I certainly came to appreciate this month's scenarios for the important plot elements they introduce into the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. So, let's dive in!

November 2018 Starfinder Society Releases

Thursday, November 21, 2018

Illustration by Graey Erb

November's a cold month up here in the wilds of Canada, and as I developed this month's scenarios, I found that I developed a growing obsession with them. While I didn't quite grow a beard or batter down any doors with axes, I certainly came to appreciate this month's scenarios for the important plot elements they introduce into the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. So, let's dive in!

Our first scenario for this month, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-26: Truth of the Seeker is Shahreena Shahrani's debut scenario! Both John and I had the pleasure of meeting Shahreena at Origins Game Fair 2018, and her passion and knowledge about Starfinder Society really caught our attention. With a background in foreign studies, Shahreena took to the challenge of writing a scenario that includes a lot of firsts for the campaign. This is the first scenario that has the campaign explore the Kasatha colony ship known as the Idari. It's also the first scenario to have the Second Seekers (Jadnura) faction tag. For these reasons alone, I'm excited for what people think of this scenario. Of course, the art preview I get to showcase MAY be one of my favorite pieces of art…

Next up…

There's some history—some OLD history—to November's second scenario. Starfinder Society Scenario #1-27: King Xeros of Star Azlant harkens back to a Season 0 Pathfinder Society scenario: Pathfinder Society #20: King Xeros of Old Azlant. The roots of its more futuristic successor come from the Organized Play team monitoring threads about what fans would like to see come back in Pathfinder Society, especially during the ramp up to Pathfinder Second Edition. The King Xeros was one of those things that fans kept bringing back up, and while it didn't find a place in Pathfinder Society's action-packed tenth season, I was eager to scoop it up for use in Starfinder Society. I always enjoy reading our forums and catching up on commentary to get a sense of what things interest our fans.

Illustration by Graey Erb

While I'd originally intended to bring a Season 0 author back out of the cryogenic freezer to write this scenario, events didn't line up. Instead, veteran author Christopher Wasko saved my proverbial bacon by stepping up and putting together a beautiful scenario that maintains the spirit of the King Xeros into a whole new setting. Luckily, for GMs who put together custom terrain of the original King Xeros, you can rest assured that your maps will still work out quite nicely in this scenario. Though, the King Xeros maybe got a few upgrades since you last saw it…

That does it for this month's rather intense scenario offerings. Look forward to next month, when we get to experience a new Tier 1–4 adventure that brings us back into the role of explorers on the frontiers of the universe. Also, if you've been following the ongoing Scoured Stars storyline, our first Tier 7–10 makes its appearance next month, and I have a feeling that we'll need our best and brightest Starfinders to handle the threat that's rising!

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

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Build Them Up, Break Them Down!

Nov 2, 2018, 12:00 pm

Constructs have been a staple of fantasy stories for decades and it's no surprise that they are just as prevalent in the world of Golarion. These creatures include the likes of simple clockwork familiars all the way to the colossi, towering constructs the size of entire keeps. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Construct Handbook takes a look at these created creatures and provides new options for both players and GMs that wish to build up the presence of constructs in their adventures.

Build Them Up, Break Them Down!

Friday, November 2, 2018

Illustration by Alyssa McCarthy

Constructs have been a staple of fantasy stories for decades and it's no surprise that they are just as prevalent in the world of Golarion. These creatures include the likes of simple clockwork familiars all the way to the colossi, towering constructs the size of entire keeps. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Construct Handbook takes a look at these created creatures and provides new options for both players and GMs that wish to build up the presence of constructs in their adventures.

While the majority of this book is intended for GM use, the first portion of the book does provide a significant amount of material for players. In particular, the book contains a full break down of the rules for crafting a construct, providing detailed information on each portion of the process. It also contains additional construct modifications to expand on those found in Ultimate Magic. A number of new magical items also help with the handling of constructs, including new golem manuals to ease with the crafting of all new types of golems or machinebane oil that can slow down hostile constucts.

Players wishing to receive their own construct will find a few of the book's archetypes, such as the clocksmith wizard or the construct caller unchained summoner archetypes, to be very helpful. On the other hand, if you find yourself constantly fighting constructs, you might want to take a look at some of the other archetypes within. A Forgefather's seeker paladin is all about putting a stop to harmful constructs with abilities like smite construct and the scrapper fighter can take parts from broken constructs to improve his armor.

Illustration by Graey Erb

The main portion of this book is our enormous bestiary. This bestiary has several new constructs from different categories for GMs to use in their game. Some of these include more common constructs like clockworks or golems, but also a new construct category: the mysterious automatons! Automatons are constructs created during the height of the Jistka Imperium and feature powerful abilities like the stalker automaton's adaptive camouflage or the sharpshooter automaton's energy beam. GMs wishing to continue using some of their favorite constructs can change things up with several new templates. A haunted construct is a construct infused with an evil soul that takes over the construct's body, while a runeplated construct is one infused with the sin magic of Thassilon.

Luis Loza
Developer

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October 2018 Starfinder Society Releases

Oct 25, 2018, 02:00 pm

October brings with it all manner of spooky gifts! While this month's Starfinder releases may not as overtly spooky in nature as some past releases, I can assure you that both scenarios involve some scenes that scream for GMs to ramp up the tension. Let's dive into this month's offerings.

October 2018 Starfinder Society Releases

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Illustration by Graey Erb

October brings with it all manner of spooky gifts! While this month's Starfinder releases may not as overtly spooky in nature as some past releases, I can assure you that both scenarios involve some scenes that scream for GMs to ramp up the tension. Let's dive into this month's offerings.

Our first scenario for this month, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-24: Siege of Enlightenment really comes from a conversation I had with Organized Play Lead Developer, John Compton, regarding other civilizations near to the Pact Worlds. We both agreed that we wanted to show some minor powers throughout the region and bring in future allies/foes we could later call upon. This scenario showcases two previously unheard of powers in relative proximity to the Pact Worlds and a growing conflict that threatens to destroy them both. Tineke Bolleman, who you may recognize as one of the quest authors from Starfinder Society Scenario #1-16: Dreaming of the Future jumped right into the task of creating two new space-faring civilizations and the I think the results speak for themselves. Fans of more traditional Pathfinder won't be disappointed, as this month's Tier 1-4 scenario also brings a fan favorite species into the Starfinder limelight: hobgoblins!

Now, Organized Play Lead Developer, John Compton, is going to take some time to tell you about this month's second scenario!

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

For many months, Adrian Ng has been the behind-the-scenes champion of organized play, which is to say he's taken the lead in editing most of our scenarios. As you might guess, he's very familiar with not only our style but also our stories, and the time was right for him to show off has narrative skills with Starfinder Society's latest repeatable scenario, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-25: The Beacon Code Dilemma. Not only does this explore some of the Society's past and the machine god Triune's lore (including an influential priest, pictured here), but it's also a fun romp through space in search of a lost starship and priceless artifact—classic! Adrian's included a lot of fun ways to vary the experience, providing fun ways for the GM to both personalize some of the discoveries and shake up the combats. Be sure to check out this Tier 3-6 scenario.

So with all that, I think you can see why we're pretty darn excited for October's offerings. Stop by the blog next month, when we'll be previewing the next set of scenarios, including our first scenario for a brand new faction that some of you may already be familiar with. Speaking of familiarity, fans of Pathfinder Society are in for a treat as we explore a Starfinder follow-up to one of Pathfinder's earliest scenarios!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

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Questing and Dreaming in the Pact Worlds

Sep 19, 2018, 02:00 pm

Thanks to the double release at the end of July, it's been awhile since we've previewed any new Starfinder Society scenarios. Luckily, we're just about a week out from the release of our two latest scenarios, so now is a perfect time for some sneak previews!

Questing and Dreaming in the Pact Worlds

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Thanks to the double release at the end of July, it's been awhile since we've previewed any new Starfinder Society scenarios. Luckily, we're just about a week out from the release of our two latest scenarios, so now is a perfect time for some sneak previews!

First off, Organized Play Lead Developer, John Compton, is going to take some time to tell you about this month's first scenario.

John: With the Gen Con scenarios done, I've had a little more time to help out with Starfinder Society scenario development. The first of these is Starfinder Society Scenario #1-22: The Protectorate Petition, a Tier 1-4 scenario by Mike Kimmel. The planet Tabrid Minor's sole intelligent species, the communal coral-like organisms called copaxis, are quite new to the galactic stage, having only made any significant forays within the past decade. However, they've quickly determined that allying themselves with the Pact Worlds would be ideal—to the point that the planet-spanning copaxi government has formally petitioned to become a Pact Worlds protectorate. This would not be without costs to the Pact Worlds, and the Stewards have contracted a team of Starfinders to assist in a detailed study of the planet, its people, and its past to assess whether linking their fates is wise. It's up to the PCs to study one of the ruined floating cities above Tabrid Minor in collaboration with a team of copaxi scientists to understand this enduring culture and shape the planet's future.

Illustration by Graey Erb

Our second September release is a higher tier scenario that follows in the footsteps of recent Society events. Starfinder Society #1-23: Return to Sender involves two of our major faction leaders banding together to strike against a recently revealed threat. This month's scenario comes from Natalie Kertzner, who you may remember as one of the quest authors from Starfinder Society #1-16: Dreaming of the Future and an active Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild volunteer. Natalie brought a combination of dark (almost unspeakable) encounter ideas along with some of the lighter tones that players have come to appreciate from Starfinder. As for what's in store for the players, suffice it to say it might have something to do with this unimpressed figure in the preview image…

September promises to be an exciting month for Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Players. Come back next month, when we preview our next set of scenarios, including our first Tier 3-6 repeatable and a new entry into our growing stable of introductory Tier 1-4 content.

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

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Faction Focus: Second Seekers (Jadnura)

Aug 15, 2018, 12:00 pm

The Scoured Stars incident shaped the narrative at the launch of the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. That momentous—some say would say, catastrophic—event set the stage for the campaign's first season and the ongoing mystery of the Scoured Stars. With the recent unveiling of Starfinder Society #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion, we on the Organized Play team thought it was a great time to look back in history to before the campaign started. Specifically, let's learn of the First Seeker who first brought the Starfinder Society into the Scoured Stars: First Seeker Jadnura.

Faction Focus: Second Seekers (Jadnura)

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The Scoured Stars incident shaped the narrative at the launch of the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. That momentous—some say would say, catastrophic—event set the stage for the campaign's first season and the ongoing mystery of the Scoured Stars. With the recent unveiling of Starfinder Society #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion, we on the Organized Play team thought it was a great time to look back in history to before the campaign started. Specifically, let's learn of the First Seeker who first brought the Starfinder Society into the Scoured Stars: First Seeker Jadnura.

Illustration by Graey Erb

Jadnura joined the Starfinder Society after spending years honing his talents as a solarian within the Pradulex Monastery onboard the kasatha colony ship, Idari. Looking for a proper way to utilize his considerable talents, Jadnura joined the Starfinder Society, training within the halls of the Lorespire Complex along many notable Starfinder agents, such as a young Fitch and Naiaj. Jadnura preferred missions that took him to the fringes of explored space, and he specialized in exploring seemingly hostile environments. It was during his time as a field agent that Jadnura came across a mystical relic known as the Tear (as in "to cry tears") on an otherwise dead volcanic world.

When agents of the Lorespire Complex examined the Tear, they learned the device seemed to have some connection with the distant realm of the Scoured Stars—a trinary star system known to host a plethora hostile lifeforms and an abundance of malign outsiders. Using the Tear as a physical means of pointing the Society's interest at the Scoured Stars, Jadnura used his considerable charm and personal drive to attain the mantle of First Seeker, with his ultimate goal being the full exploration of the Scoured Stars. The rest, they say, is history…

Second Seekers (Jadnura)

Like his successor, Luwazi Elsebo, there were (and still are) many Starfinders keen to support Jadnura in his role as First Seeker. These Starfinders united under the longstanding "Second Seekers" faction, with their aims directed at exploring the Scoured Stars and enacting Jadnura's trademark "lead from the front" philosophy of exploration. Some of these agents managed to avoid the Scoured Stars incident, whereas others more recently heard of Jadnura's many endearing qualities and have chosen to serve him above the current nominal First Seeker. Where Luwazi Elsebo dedicated her nominated First Seeker term to re-unifying and reconstructing the Society, those following Jadnura have remained focused on their First Seeker's specific goal: unraveling the mysteries of the Scoured Stars.

With a return to the Scoured Stars, it's inevitable that we'll learn a bit more about Jadnura, so for those spoiler-conscious folks out there, I'll keep some of the particulars hidden below:

Starfinder #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion Spoilers

Ok… so the big news from this year's interactive special is that JADNURA IS BACK! That's right, as part of the climactic unfolding of the interactive special, the Starfinder Society has recovered the missing First Seeker and extricated him (and other survivors back to the Pact Worlds)! Of course, this leads to some interesting questions about how leadership within the Starfinder Society is going to be working going forward.

Over the coming months, we'll be looking at introducing Jadnura to our players through upcoming scenarios. This includes several scenarios that include the Faction (Second Seekers [Jadnura]) tag. Jadnura is going to play a major role in our upcoming stories, not to mention defining his relationship with nominated First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo. We wanted to give the interactive some time to play across all our major events before we revealed this massive lore development in a public way, and now that the summer convention season is winding down, expect to see product pages and updates for these scenarios in the near future.

Finally, if you played the interactive special, then you know that there's the potential to earn your first Reputation with Second Seekers (Jadnura). This was just a light tease of what we've had planned. I humbly request that you don't spoil this in the comments below, as I try to be somewhat vague with our spoiler-free players about how this new faction is going to play into our campaign's future!

For those of you interested in joining the Second Seekers (Jadnura) faction to honor the lost First Seeker, I have some good news! With the upcoming release of the next update to the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide (sometime around late October or early November) we'll be introducing a whole section on this faction. The plan is to include a variety of boons along the lines of what you've seen with other factions. If you've seen the release of our limited-release first minor faction, the Manifold Host, I assure you that this will include a lot more faction-facing content.

Ok, alright, fine, I may have one more spoiler…

Starfinder #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion Spoilers

With Jadnura's sudden return to the Starfinder Society, he's become quite interested in what's transpired in his absence. I know there's a lot of players out there who've been interested in replaying previously played content, and I'll give a strong hint that Jadnura has your back! (In boon form, if not with his ridiculous heavy weapon as well!)

I understand that waiting several months is a bit of a tease. I also understand that it's even more of a tease to preview all this without a means of actually getting into the faction. So, let it be known that I'm a generous developer. The following boon is available to all characters as of the posting of this blog and will be reprinted in the next update to the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide. New characters created following this blog post can choose this boon for their starting faction champion boon.

Second Seekers: Jadnura Champion (Faction Boon)

You've declared your allegiance to the Second Seekers (Jadnura) and dedicate your missions to furthering the faction's goals.

Prerequisites: Second Seekers (Jadnura) Tier 0

Cost: 2 Fame

Benefit: This Faction boon allows the character to gain Reputation with the Second Seekers (Jadnura) faction. A character with this boon slotted at the end of a successfully completed scenario gains Reputation as detailed in the primary and secondary success conditions of that scenario.

Normal: A character gains no Reputation unless she has a Faction boon slotted.

See y'all next blog,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

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Gen Con 2018 Starfinder Society Releases!

Jul 18, 2018, 03:00 pm

There's a lot to talk about this blog, so we're just going to jump right into the exciting set of releases coming out in just a few weeks.

Gen Con 2018 Starfinder Society Releases!

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Illustration by Graey Erb

There's a lot to talk about this blog, so we're just going to jump right into the exciting set of releases coming out in just a few weeks.

Starfinder Society Scenario #1-18: The Blackmoon Survey, by Paizo veteran Jesse Benner, showcases the Starfinder Society's first foray to the undead world of Eox. When Starfinder agents and undead workers start disappearing from a Starfinder-operated excavation site near the infamous Blackmoon mountain, it's up to the PCs to make the trip to Eox and uncover what's happening. This Tier 1-4 scenario involves heavy investigation along with some interesting encounter set-ups that the Organized Play team is very curious to hear reactions about.

This scenario has no special scenario tags.

Illustration by Graey Erb

The second July scenario is our second venture into the (currently) lofty heights of Tier 5-8. You might recognize Matt Duval's name from several prominent Pathfinder Society Scenarios, and he did an excellent job putting together Starfinder Society Scenario #1-19: To Conquer the Dragon[/url]. Sometimes, I tend to obfuscate what happens during the course of a scenario, but I think that this particular entry might be just a little bit self-explanatory. I mean, sometimes the PCs just need to punch a dragon in its smug face. Also, there's some extra special bonus lore points for PCs who come into this scenario having played Starfinder Society Scenario #1-13: On the Trail of History.

This scenario has the starship tag.

Illustration by Graey Erb

Our next Gen Con release (technically an August release, but who's counting?) is a return to a fan favorite. Starfinder Society Scenario #1-20: Duskmire Accord 9 is a pretty unique Tier 1-4 scenario that resumes the Society's ongoing exploration of the megacomplex known as Salvation's End. The scenario's author, Brian Duckwitz, maintained the ongoing momentum that the campaign has had with its exploration of Salvation's End. I don't want to say too much about this scenario, but I think it's ok to just let the art speak for itself.

This scenario has no special scenario tags.

Illustration by Nicolas Espinoza

Finally, Gen Con has us return to a world we haven't set foot on since last year: the ghibrani homeworld of Elytrio. Written by Paizo's own, Jason Keeley, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-21: Yesteryear's Sorrow directly follows up on events from Starfinder Society Scenario #1-03: Yesteryear's Truth. The results from countless tables were tabulated to decide the future of the ghibrani people, and that future gets a bit of a push in this scenario… along with a heavy look into the past of what has become a fan-favorite species in Starfinder! Be aware that playing the previous scenario is not required, and in fact, this scenario was intentionally written so it could be equally enjoyed by characters who haven't previously interacted or learned about the ghibranis.

This scenario has the Faction (Exo-Guardians) tag.

That's it for our new releases at Gen Con 2018! This covers both the July and August releases for the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, but rest assured that the team is hard at work on future scenarios. As for now, I'm going to get back to working on sanctioning the upcoming Starfinder Armory and the first installment of our upcoming Against the Aeon Throne adventure path. No rest for the wicked it seems…

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

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Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master's Handbook (PFRPG)

True Masters of Elemental Power

Aug 1, 2017, 12:00 pm

Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master's Handbook is just about to coalesce from the elements to land in your hands, so it's time to let you know what it's about! This book is a player-focused look at wielding elemental powers. Whether your PC studied elemental forces as a route to power, was born with an inherent connection to these primordial forces, or became cursed with an affiliation to one entity at the expense of vulnerability to another, this book is for you. Whether or not your GM plans to provide you with planar adventures, such by using the recent Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Planes of Power, you'll find this book to be invaluable!

True Masters of Elemental Power

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master's Handbook is just about to coalesce from the elements to land in your hands, so it's time to let you know what it's about! This book is a player-focused look at wielding elemental powers. Whether your PC studied elemental forces as a route to power, was born with an inherent connection to these primordial forces, or became cursed with an affiliation to one entity at the expense of vulnerability to another, this book is for you. Whether or not your GM plans to provide you with planar adventures, such by using the recent Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Planes of Power, you'll find this book to be invaluable!

Elemental Master's Handbook is broken up into several sections. First up are four long sections about air, earth, fire, and water. Each of these sections provides one or two new archetypes, such as the firebrand gunslinger archetype, who uses dragon pistols effectively but recklessly, or the storm caller summoner archetype, who can hurl lightning. These sections also present a variety of additional rules elements like new magic items, rogue talents, and bloodlines. All these rules are infused with elemental flavor: for example, desperation is a new spiritualist phantom focus to reflect a death by drowning or suffocation. Tragic? Yes. But also cool. Each elemental section concludes with a look at a few places on Golarion where your PC may have been steeped in elemental power, including a new feat for each. For example, the following new feat fits characters with a connection to the dwarven Sky Citadel of Kraggodan.

Kraggodan's Stance (Combat)

You have learned one of the secrets of Kraggodan's defenders and can lock your armor and shield into an impenetrable barrier.

Prerequisites: Con 13, proficiency with heavy armor and shields.
Benefit: As a move action when wearing heavy armor and using a heavy shield or tower shield, you increase the bonus to AC granted by your armor and your shield by 1 each until you move or are moved from your current square. You must be in contact with solid ground to gain this benefit. You can never increase an armor or shield bonus to AC by more than 1 each in this way.

"Good? Bad? I'm the kid with the stick."
Illustration by Graey Erb

The rest of Elemental Master's Handbook contains several shorter sections, each touching on a different facet of elemental mastery. There has been some public speculation about whether this book will have kineticist content—of course it does! In addition to rules items scattered throughout the book that kineticists will find invaluable, there's an entire section devoted to kineticists alone. This section includes new infusions, utility wild talents, and feats—like this one.

Mobile Gathering

You can gather elemental energy while walking slowly.

Prerequisites: Kineticist level 7th, kinetic blast class feature.

Benefit: While taking a move action to gather power, you can move up to half your base speed, and while taking 1 full round to gather power, you can move up to half your speed on the turn you begin the full round of gathering power. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity, and you can't use Acrobatics checks or other abilities to attempt to negate them, as you're concentrating on gathering power (nor can you use Acrobatics to balance, jump, or do anything else that requires a skill check). It's harder to concentrate on gathering power while using this feat; if you take damage during or after gathering power and before using a kinetic blast that releases it (including from an attack of opportunity provoked by the movement), the concentration check DC to avoid losing the gathered power increases by twice the blast's effective spell level.

An advantage—or a curse, I suppose, depending on how you look at it—of being in one of my home games is that I'll sometimes introduce new rules items I'm writing or developing. The kineticist player in my Hell's Vengeance game already uses some of these rules items to blast paladins and angels with wanton abandon.

Another section of Elemental Master's Handbook presents elemental augmentations, which permanently alter a portion the recipient's body by infusing it with primordial powers. An augmented body part is forever altered; the elemental augmentation remains until the body part is removed, which can have some unfortunate side effects. Elemental augmentations come with some powerful advantages, but also carry some corresponding weaknesses that tend to be more flavorful than debilitating. What? You don't follow? Is this some trick to get an example out of me? Okay, done.

"My master wishes you some serious harm, and I'm pleased to grant it."
Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Quicksilver Blood Price 62,000 GP

Slot none; CL 9th; Weight —

Aura moderate transmutation

This recipient's blood is infused with liquid metal that is magically bound to the recipient's system. When the recipient bleeds, the metal clings to itself and turns a bright silver color. The recipient automatically stabilizes when at negative hit points and is immune to continuous damage from bleed attacks (including weapons with the wounding special ability) and ability damage from blood drain. The recipient is considered a ferrous creature for the purposes of spells and effects such as rusting grasp and a rust monster's attack.

This elemental augmentation cannot be applied to a creature without blood.

Construction Requirements Cost 31,000 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, adhesive blood^ACG, lesser restoration, creator must have 9 ranks in Knowledge (planes)

There's more neat stuff here than I can get into, such as a new oracle mystery that blends elemental powers together, the aether elemental school for wizards, and the new genie eidolon subtype that can improve its own powers only in response to its summoner uttering a wish. Elemental powers for any PC can be yours!

As a final note, the first bardic masterpiece has a missing title. Although I briefly considered inviting readers to propose their favorite name for this masterpiece, I'll just tell you: it's Blazing Rondo (oratory, percussion).

Ron Lundeen
Contributing Developer

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Pathfinder Player Companion: Paths of the Righteous (PFRPG)

Walk the Path of Virtue

Dec 7, 2016, 12:00 pm

So, earlier in the year, the ebb and flow of product workflow had me swooping in to serve as the lead developer for a few installments of the Pathfinder Player Companion line. Two of these products (Haunted Heroes Handbook and Divine Anthology) had already been outlined and assigned to authors, but one of them was completely up in the air and left to me to create. I kicked around a few ideas, but time and time again those ideas were pretty much 100% inappropriate for a player-facing product (they may or may not some day see the light of day in the Campaign Setting line or elsewhere). And then I had an epiphany.

Walk the Path of Virtue

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

So, earlier in the year, the ebb and flow of product workflow had me swooping in to serve as the lead developer for a few installments of the Pathfinder Player Companion line. Two of these products (Haunted Heroes Handbook and Divine Anthology) had already been outlined and assigned to authors, but one of them was completely up in the air and left to me to create. I kicked around a few ideas, but time and time again those ideas were pretty much 100% inappropriate for a player-facing product (they may or may not some day see the light of day in the Campaign Setting line or elsewhere). And then I had an epiphany.

We hadn't done a book about prestige classes in ages.

I love prestige classes.

And so Paths of the Righteous was born. My overwhelming preference for prestige classes is that they should tie into world flavor and reward players for actually bothering to invest in said world's flavor. I knew I didn't want to build a book that just randomly threw unrelated prestige classes out there (since I'd already built that book with Paths of Prestige), and tying the flavor to various religions made a lot of sense, since I've long been a champion of the concept of "every religion should have its own specialized class."

Prestige classes are the perfect solution to this, and so in Paths of the Righteous I decided to focus on the good-aligned faiths of the campaign setting. All of the good aligned core deities got a prestige class, along with two of the good-aligned "other gods"—Kurgess and Milani. That left five spots for prestige classes associated with empyreal lords (of which we had more than enough to choose from!). Once I had the 14 faiths chosen, I also wanted to make sure that these classes would work with as many different character themes as possible. That meant building several prestige classes that suggest non-divine spellcasting classes—there's options for wizards and fighters and swashbucklers and much, much more in this book!

Illustrations by Kent Hamilton and Graey Erb

But enough about the words... what about the arts? As a preview, here's images for the Devoted Muse of Shelyn, the Sacred Sentinel of Torag, and the Sphere Singer of Desna! Oh... and the Stargazer of the empyreal lord Pulura, because KITTY!!!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Pathfinder Player Companion: Divine Anthology (PFRPG)

More Magical Texts, and Great Art

Sep 19, 2016, 04:00 pm

With Pathfinder Player Companion: Divine Anthology, we step into the second volume of our series on magical texts. This time around, there's an even wider range of player options to choose from—sure, there are plenty of spells for your spellcasters to explore, but there's also new archetypes, additional traits, all sorts of new feats, a new category of subdomian, divine fighting styles, and much, much more!

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Starfinder Society: Ethical Anthropology

Starfinder Society: Ethical Anthropology

January 2019 Starfinder Society Releases

January 2019 Starfinder Society Releases

To the Society’s Success in 2018!

To the Society’s Success in 2018!

Pathfinder Society