Concluding Season 9, Heralding Season 10

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Every year, the number of scenarios released for Gen Con is huge, especially since it typically combines all the scenarios for July and August at once. This year's been an exception insomuch as the number of scenarios is positively immense with 15 different adventures across four different campaigns: 6 Pathfinder Society scenarios, 4 Starfinder Society scenarios, 3 Pathfinder Society Playtest scenarios, and 2 Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild adventures! It's so much that we're breaking our preview blogs into three different posts.

Thankfully, preparing so many adventures has been much more approachable thanks to our growing organized play staff. To reflect this, I've asked each scenario's respective developer to chime in with their own perspective on these excellent adventures.

Speaking of scenarios, by now Gen Con GMs should have received many of these in their downloads already. As of the time I'm writing this, we've completed all of our work on #9-24, #9-25, #10-01, #1-18, #1-19, Playtest #2, Playtest #3, and (just now) #10-00. Many of these have already been arriving in GM downloads, and most of the other adventures are just going through final checks over the next day or two. That means that anything you don't have yet should be arriving soon. Keep in mind that when we cued Gen Con GMs to receive these scenarios, you would have received a notice that you have them in your downloads; this is a placeholder file that's replaced with the actual file once they're on the website. We're regularly running the report to grant new scenarios as they're finalized.

With that, let's get a preview of the Pathfinder Society adventures coming up.

Michael Sayre (organized play developer): I enjoyed a journey across Golarion as I developed scenarios that took me from the ocean depths, to the savannas of the Mwangi Expanse, all the way to the Crown of the World, so I'll jump right in to sharing some of that journey with you!

The first scenario I'll be discussing is the Tier 5-9 adventure Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-24: Beneath Unbroken Waves from Kate Baker—who also wrote Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Scenario #1-08: Sanctuary of Drowned Delight. Beneath Unbroken Waves takes the PCs to the islands and waters off the coast of Jalmeray, where the Pathfinders meet a group of undines who have discovered the ruins of a monastery containing martial arts techniques lost to Golarion…until now! It's not all fun and games in this coastal setting though, as the PCs will also encounter deadly threats like this individual illustrated by Maja Djeke!

John Compton (Organized Play Lead Developer): Ever since Season 7, the organized play team's been including more seeker-level (i.e. level 12+) content in the campaign, which is a delight because it opens up a whole new caliber of narrative. A year ago, the Pathfinder Society helped thwart the so-called Fiendflesh Siege that threatened Absalom. In doing so, we learned that several of the Society's old foes had teamed up to coordinate the siege, and the Pathfinders have taken it upon themselves to personally track down these villains. Agents realized their first victories in Qadira in this season's Adventure Card Guild scenarios, and we've now cornered two of the masterminds in the Five Kings Mountains. There they've taken over an ossuary sacred to Magrim—dwarven god of the afterlife also featured in the upcoming Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faiths of Golarion—and established such potent defenses that only an elite team of Pathfinders stand any chance. Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-25: Betrayal in the Bones is a Tier 12-;15 scenario that concludes Season 9 on a high note. Not only has the author Tom Phillips brought his storytelling flair and devious encounter design to bear, but the scenario also answers numerous questions that we've been waiting to reveal since as early as Season 2. How did an ex-venture-captain use that fateful wish? Why did a particular faction leader take the actions she did? And how will it all end in these final confrontations?

Linda Zayas-Palmer (organized play developer): The Year of the Ten kicks off with a multitable interactive special for both the Roleplaying Guild and the Adventure Card Guild: #10-00: The Hao Jin Cataclysm (links here for the Roleplaying Guild and Adventure Card Guild versions). Long ago, the legendary sorcerer Hao Jin built a demiplane by tearing locations and peoples out of Golarion and stitching them together into an eclectic realm, bound together by the strength of her magic. The Pathfinder Society has made numerous excursions into this Hao Jin Tapestry demiplane over the years, cataloguing sites of forgotten history and forging alliances with isolated cultures. However, the demiplane is now in critical condition. Unless the Pathfinder Society acts quickly, the plane's very fabric will rip apart. It won't be an easy fix, however. The Society's allies on the Hao Jin Tapestry are in peril, as malevolent forces prey upon the chaos and actively accelerate the destruction. Even the tapestry's own repair mechanisms have malfunctioned horribly and now terrorize its inhabitants. Will you help save the demiplane from certain destruction? Mike Kimmel is the author for the RPG portion of this adventure, and Ron Lundeen wrote the ACG portion. If you want to discover the role this magnificent phoenix (illustrated by Marko Horvatin) has to play in the adventure, come join us at Gen Con or another convention near you.

Linda: Author Nicholas Wasko brings us the first Tier 1-5 of the season, Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-01: Oathbreakers Die. In most places, guilds that trade in death would have to operate undercover. In the setting for this scenario, Daggermark, the Assassins Guild and the Poisoner's Guild are effectively part of the government. Here, a Pathfinder agent who knows too much has been marked for death. The local Venture-Captain Istivil Bosk, illustrated below by Tom Ventre, has concocted a daring plot to save his life. Is your PC brave and skilled enough to save an ally without falling prey to an assassin's blade?

Michael: Moving on to our Tier 3-7 offering forces us to ask the question: "Do ants have bones in Golarion, or do the bones just belong to the ants?" Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-02: Bones of Biting Ants, by Sean McGowan, takes place in the savannas of the Mwangi Expanse, where the PCs have been summoned to assist the lone survivor of a past Pathfinder expedition. Daring the many dangers of the sweltering savannas, the PCs must help Ulfen skald Stuinvolk Hundrakson reclaim not just the lost relics of his previous expedition, but also a piece of himself that never escaped the deaths of his allies. Bad memories and Mzali border-guards won't be the fearsome threats the party faces though, as this fearsome foe illustrated by Akim Kaliberda shows!

Michael: The final stop in my personal tour around Golarion takes us far away from warm coastal waters and sultry savannas, to a markedly different setting. Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-03: Death On The Ice, by Scott D. Young, sees Venture-Captain Bjersig Torrsen sending the PCs on a chilling trek north to the Crown of the World, where a Pathfinder expeditionhas uncovered more than they bargained for beneath the polar ice. The PCs won't be alone on their dangerous journey though, as the snowy owl Kuokei leads the party ever-northward towards his master, the ranger and archaeologist Svala Ice-Rider. Svala's Varki ancestry gave her the insight to begin unraveling an ancient riddle from the Pathfinder archives, but will the PCs find the last piece of the puzzle in time to rescue Svala from a frigid fate? I hope so, because if not, this might be the only time you get to see Svala's illustration from artist Benjamin Widdowson!

Join us next week for a look at our upcoming Pathfinder Society Playtest scenarios!

John Compton, Linda Zayas-Palmer, and Michael Sayre
The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild team

New Scenarios: Over the Mountains and Through the Woods

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

Spring has arrived, and that means that the Organized Play team is in full gear preparing for convention season. Tonya talked about some of the exciting offerings we have coming up next month at PaizoCon in last week's blog, so if you haven't seen that yet, I recommend checking it out. I've attended PaizoCon for the past six years, and I've always had a wonderful time. Sometimes I play pretty much the whole time, sometimes I GM more, and other times I keep my schedule light so I can focus on meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends, but I've always found it well worth the trip.

But what do we have to offer for you this month? We have two more adventures to introduce, both of which send the PCs to nations that we have never before visited in Organized Play. The first, Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-18: Scourge of the Farheavens, takes place just off the northeastern edge of the Inner Sea map, in the plague-blighted land of Iobaria. I'll turn it over to Michael Sayre, who took the lead on this project, to tell you more.

Scourge of the Farheavens takes place primarily in Iobaria, which was an exciting proposition simply for how little time the Pathfinder Society has spent in that area. Getting the opportunity to explore this relatively under-supported area of Golarion and learn more about the people who live there was an exciting proposition, particularly given that this scenario will give the PCs a peek at the god-caller traditions of a Sarkorian clan. Jason Owen Black did an amazing job of breathing life into the decimated remnants of the Farheavens clan and the harsh living conditions of the Iobarian wilderness, while Sebastian Rodriguez's illustration of Dolok Darkfur conveys exactly the right mix of ferocity and loneliness. As much as I love the rich depth of the characters and environment in this scenario, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that this scenario features some harrowing encounters that convey the true dangers of the Iobarian forests in appropriately deadly fashion.

Our second scenario this month, Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-19: Clash in Kaimuko Wood, sends the PCs into the aasimar nation of Tianjing. The country's military is ill-prepared for the ancient threat that lurks in Kaimuko Wood, and evil forces plot to take advantage of their weakened defenses. Thanks to the Pathfinder Society's successful efforts in Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-12: Shrine of the Sacred Tempest, a highly trained group of tengu mercenaries has agreed to lend their swords to the PCs' cause. With the tengus at their command, the PCs journey to a troubled fort and finally brave a part of the forest so tainted by abyssal corruption that it burns with unholy flame. Author Jerall Toi brings rich and compelling NPCs to meet—take a look at the masked leader of the tengu band, Tai Dan, brilliantly illustrated by Hannah Boving. But this scenario certainly isn't all about roleplay, as Kaimuko Wood is crawling with creatures that are eager to make sure the PCs and their allies never escape the forest.

Illustration by Hannah Boving

That's all for now. Happy gaming, everyone!

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Developer

2017, A Big Year for Pathfinder Society

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Every year goes by so quickly, yet every year I end up looking back and realizing just how long it's been—and how much we've accomplished—since January. 2017's no exception. All the work that went into getting Starfinder Society going, we've been keeping busy bringing you more stories, adventures, art, and memories in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. While we've enjoyed all of the scenarios, there's a handful that I feel really defined 2017.

This year we tried something new: publishing a new series of quests mid-season. Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-16: House of Harmonious Wisdom really knocked it out of the park, and the positive feedback has encouraged use to launch a similar series in early 2018.

Season 8 was our opportunity to travel to the elemental planes, and we scheduled two scenarios on each plane with an aim to present one urban adventure and one "wilderness" adventure. To me, Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-19: Treacherous Waves by Eleanor Ferron really captured the flavor of the elemental planes and of Vialesk, the foremost city on the Plane of Water, with colorful characters and daring scenes that flit between dry and wet environments.

Illustrations by Hannah Boving, Sebastian Rodriguez, Akim Kaliberda, and Giorgio Baroni

Every season comes to an end, and we try to bring everything together with a bang—often in a confrontation with loathsome foes. Ever since the "All for Immortality" series, we've scheduled at least one Tier 12+ scenario per season. For Season 8 we knew our goal from the very beginning, and we knew it was a worthy challenge for our seeker-level characters: break open the Untouchable Opal and free the being trapped within. The result, Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-25: Unleashing the Untouchable, is a truly epic adventure by Robert Brookes.

Multi-table interactive specials are pretty great, but they're also an immense amount of work to assemble. To both deliver more multi-table content and change up our traditional format, we created a "modular special" with easily replaced parts that we can swap out with new content over time. Pathfinder Society Special #8-99: The Solstice Scar tread new ground with Andrew Hoskins as the author, and we've already finished the next installment that's set to appear at conventions beginning in mid-January.

Speaking of multi-table interactive specials, no retrospective's complete without the Gen Con centerpiece. This year Absalom itself came under attack in Pathfinder Society Special #9-00: Assault on Absalom by Mikko Kallio, and the Pathfinder Society's factions pooled their resources and expertise to help fight off the invasion. This was one of the smoothest-run specials yet!

The Season of Factions' Favor kicked off with a trio of great scenarios, and one in particular really set the tone for Season 9. Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-02: A Case of Missing Persons by Alex Greenshields continues the ongoing saga of Major Colson Maldris, and the looks of disbelief I've seen on people's faces when they play this one... they give me life. The Liberty's Edge struggle this scenario introduces also kicked off our Leaders in Liberty contest and voting. I can hardly wait for the next installment in Spring 2018.

Illustrations by Tom Ventre and Josef Kucera

The elemental planes have plenty of conflict, and conflict begets adventures. Heaven's a different story, as it's easy to think that no matter what happens there, a horde of archons is ready to jump on it. For more than a year we'd been considering an adventure in Heaven an unattainable goal... then we checked the reporting data for a Season 7 scenario and saw that participants had overwhelmingly chosen exactly that. Thus began Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-06: The Shores of Heaven, a delightful and heavenly story that brought out the plane's potential in a compelling way with compelling characters. Cole Kronewitter did an excellent job.

Just as some factions are struggling with leadership or learning to flex their muscles in new ways, others are tackling an internal threat that threatens to destroy the organization entirely. The Scarab Sages got to show off their strength and destroy an ancient evil in Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-07: Salvation of the Sages, one of the most extraordinarily fun and over-the-top scenarios I've had the pleasure to develop in a long while. Just as he helped kick off the Scarab Sages storyline in Season 5 and drive it forward in Season 6, I enjoyed having Matt Duval to tie things together with this adventure.

Ever since The Confirmation, no season's been complete without a new replayable (aka evergreen) scenario. Last year we published the first replayable adventure above 1st level, and we knew that this year we wanted to provide a similarly compelling mid-level experience. Brian Duckwitz delivered with Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-09: Beyond the Halflight Path, which delves deep below the eclectic city of Kaer Maga in pursuit of numerous objectives that change with each retelling.

And even with this long list I'm omitting tons of great adventures, from Mike Kimmel's trip under Merab's streets to Crystal Malarsky's archaeological peacekeeping mission to Larry Wilhelm's voyage into a live volcano to many, many more. What were your favorites?

Finally, no season's complete without some excellent artwork. Here are some of our favorites from 2017, compliments of Akim Kaliberda, Giorgio Baroni, Hannah Boving, Josef Kucera, Sebastian Rodriguez, and Tom Ventre. Also, although I don't want to provide spoilers by posting it here, we also adore Sean MacDonald's cartography from Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-20: Torrent's Last Will, for which I've seen some of the most dazzling printed maps.

See you in 2018!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

We Were Professionals... Civilized!

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

This month sees the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild release its first Tier 3-6 scenario: Starfinder Society #1-06: A Night in Nightarch. Adventure Path author and overall prolific freelancer, Mikko Kallio, stepped up to the plate to tackle this first foray into higher level Starfinder play. I had the pleasure of working alongside Mikko on the Ruins of Azlant and War for the Crown Adventure Paths, and I knew from that point that I wanted to bring him onboard for Starfinder Society.

Illustration by Hannah Boving

A Night in Nightarch, as the scenario name suggests, takes place in the drow settlement of Nightarch, on the distant world of Apostae. If you've had a chance to read Alien Archive, then you know that the drow have a strong presence on Apostae, where they've taken on a major role as weapon suppliers. The crux of this month's scenario revolves around a standard business transaction gone awry; the Starfinder Society purchased a shipment of weapons from the drow, and now a petty rivalry between drow houses endangers that legitimate agreement. The drow offer the Starfinder Society 24 hours of diplomatic immunity to retrieve the stolen weapons shipment, and it's up to the PCs to accomplish this vital mission.

Getting the Society's guns back will require a measure of guile and stealth... or a determined group of Starfinders willing to kick in the door and murder everything in their path. Mikko did an excellent job of giving the PCs options on how to tackle this dilemma. For groups that prefer a methodical planning approach, there are several benefits to doing so. For groups preferring the battle thrill of clearing out an entire complex of foes, well, there are certainly a lot of enemies to be cleared in this scenario!

Finally, I'm eager to see the reaction to the Chronicle sheet associated with this scenario. We're trying something a bit different with this scenario, and following up on some promises we made from early in the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild's inception. So, please be sure to post your (spoiler tagged) thoughts on the forums!

As a related note, this scenario has no special scenario tags.

Come back next month, and be sure to bring your tinfoil conspiracy hats, when we preview our next scenario Starfinder Society #1-07: The Solar Sortie. This upcoming scenario is of extreme importance to the Dataphiles faction.

Until then!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Adventures in the Isles

Monday, February 20, 2017

2017 has been a busy year so far! Tonya recently announced our revised Retail Support Program to provide boon support to public, non-convention events. Linda and I are busily outlining and assigning the rest of Season 8, we've locked in Season 9, Linda's made tremendous strides in updating our FAQ, and we're preparing the next batch of scenario product pages—including at least one surprise for an upcoming convention. The team's also enjoyed incorporating significant crossovers between the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild, including some fun Adventure Card Guild developments to the Scarab Sages narrative in the ongoing Season of Plundered Tombs. On top of that, we're busily flying around the country to meet with organized play communities in person, with Tonya having attended DunDraCon in San Ramon, CA this past weekend and Mark and Linda attending TotalCon in Marlborough, MA next weekend. On top of that, I've been helping out on several cross-department collaborations that I imagine we'll announce a few months from now.

During this busy time, we're fortunate to have several guest developers helping us with scenario development: Thurston "Thursty" Hillman and Ron Lundeen, both veteran authors and familiar with the intricacies of Pathfinder Society. We're happy to have them collaborating with our in-house developers, and you'll find them featured prominently in the credits for recent scenarios.

Illustrations by Hannah Boving and Sebastian Rodriguez

Speaking of scenarios, we have two great ones due out this Wednesday. The first is Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-14: To Seal the Shadow by the talented Jason Keeley. Especially when we've introduced new races to the campaign, I've really enjoyed dedicating a scenario to meet a representative member of that species or visit a significant settlement. We've done so with nagajis, a samsaran, a kitsune, and even a bit for tengus, but the wayangs have enjoyed only a few paragraphs of ethnographic exploration so far. For more than a year I've been looking for the right time and right author to travel to Inahiyi, the hub of wayang culture in Minata, and Jason did a great job presenting a major festival that the PCs attend to commemorate one of the wayangs' great historical events in the shadow of an extinct volcano. My inner anthropologist is excited that we at last release this delightful Tier 1-5 adventure, which features several inspired wayang illustrations by Hannah Boving.

February also sees the third installment in the ongoing Gloomspires exploration (see Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Hall of the Flesh Eaters and Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-19: Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts for earlier scenarios) by Tom Phillips: Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-15: Hrethnar's Throne, a Tier 5-9 adventure. This scenario was especially interesting to outline with Tom, as it's this level of the site that first caught Mark Moreland's and my eyes during RPG Superstar, kicking off this entire series. The PCs return to the Gloomspires with Venture-Captain Calisro Benarry, having obtained a reliable means to overcome a lethal barrier and explore what lies beyond. Don't think this is a predictable dungeon-crawl, though; the Gloomspires is full of surprises and jealous rivals, including one of my favorite scenario opening scenes in a long while and this evocative hobgoblin pirate illustrated by Sebastian Rodriguez.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer