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

Sealed Heroes, Sealed Friends

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Illustration by Javier Charro

PaizoCon is just a few days away, and Pathfinder Society will be there in full force! Let's take a look at what's debuting that the convention.

The first is Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-20: Torrent's Last Will, a Tier 7-11 adventure that continues the our ongoing Plane of Water storyline that began with Treacherous Waves. A sahuagin warlord has captured a powerful artifact that threatens the Society and its allies. In this adventure by Cole Kronewitter, the PCs embark on an expedition into the dangerous depths of the Plane of Water, in the process teaming up with undine soldiers and a haughty brine dragon. Whereas some of Season 8's adventures have kept to the safer corners of their respective elemental planes, "Torrent's Last Will" makes the most of its aquatic setting in terms of hazards, encounters, and locations. Pack your swim trunks!

The Pathfinder Society recently won the Sargava Chalice in the eponymous footrace, but few know that the trophy cup is actually a cyclops relic dating back to Ghol-Gan. In Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-21: Champion's Chalice, Part 2: Agents of the Eye, the PCs carry the chalice deep into the Kaava Lands, where the relic can grant them a unique window into the past and a fallen empire. Author Nicholas Herold takes us to a long-forgotten corner of Golarion's history in this Tier 1-5 scenario, and it's up to the PCs to avert an imminent crisis with the help of desperate allies.

Illustrations by Sebastian Rodriguez

PaizoCon is also one of our most popular times to release special events, and this year we're doing something a little different with some very familiar aspects. On its surface, Pathfinder Society Special #8-99: The Solstice Scar is a multi-table interactive special like many that have come before, including ways in which individual tables can contribute to the entire event's goals and affect neighboring groups. In terms of structure, though, it's a very different beast. Whereas past interactive specials have been central to a season's storyline and never changed, "The Solstice Scar" is what I've referred to as a modular special—a special event whose pieces we can swap out. What you'll have a chance to play at PaizoCon, Gen Con, and later conventions is Version A, which consists of three 90-minute parts of the ongoing story (Parts 1, 2, and 3). Around the beginning of 2018 (we're still nailing down an exact date), we're going to swap out one of the parts, introduce Part 4, and re-release the adventure as Version B. Not only does Version B advance the story, but it's also playable for credit again as though it were a completely new adventure! We'll be releasing several version over the coming seasons, providing events worldwide a regularly updated special event that they can offer mid-season.

With a strange new format, we needed a tested author who's handled strange assignments before. Andrew Hoskins took the challenge and has written the first four parts of the adventure, beginning with an incident in the Blakros Museum and spiraling into an epic journey across Avistan to study an ancient Kellid ritual, uncover a forgotten chapter of the Shining Crusade, and do battle with a truly reprehensible evil. I look forward to joining you in its debut on Sunday night at PaizoCon!

Speaking of PaizoCon, the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild represent only a fraction of what's going on this weekend. We'll be announcing Season 9's name and theme at the PaizoCon Preview Banquet on Saturday night. Immediately afterward, I'm hosting the much-beloved post-banquet trivia contest, whose prizes include gift certificates, the acclaim of your peers, and ample opportunities to troll me by writing weird answers to questions (an equally beloved tradition). If you'd rather ask questions than answer them, you should also attend the Organized Play Q&A panel from 5-6 pm on Sunday. The whole team will be there to answer your burning questions about Season 9, Starfinder Society, and much more!

Beyond that, watch for us in the halls. We're happy to chat about our work, your experiences, freelance work opportunities, and what could happen in future adventures. After all, the modular special concept came out of a conversation Linda and I had while hanging out in the Sagamore Ballroom, and Thurston and I figured out a major portion of Season 8's plotline while having a chat at the Paizo booth at Gen Con. Who knows what great things we could brainstorm this weekend.

See you there!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

The Sounds of PaizoCon Approach!

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

I am very excited to be heading back to Seattle with Syrinscape for PaizoCon 2017. Syrinscape has had such huge growth over the last twelve months and we are keen to hang out with our best most devoted fans at PaizoCon, and we've got some really great plans for our stay too.

Probably one of the most fun things we did last year was our search for the perfect Green Dragon for the beloved Dragon's Demand module, so this year we are amplifying this to the max. This year we are going to put absolutely everybody who gives a voice into a great big Shoggoth SoundSet. You know, CR 19... blow your brain away, kinda thing! Think the Borg, with green tentacles.

I am also running sound for a few of the celebrity events, don't miss "Celebrity Gaming with Amber E Scott". Game Master Greg Vaughan and I have been scheming to make life maximally difficult for this great panel of star players.

I'll be talking at a seminar about immersion, which promises to be really interesting, and doing sound for a game of Strange Aeons with the actual lead developer running the game. How cool is that?!

Most excitingly however are the little surprises we have in everybody's PaizoCon welcome bags. Long story short, this March I visited the Paizo offices in Seattle. As well as talking business, dreaming and scheming about Syrinscape's new Starfinder SoundSets, and playing a fantastic game of Pathfinder, I also grabbed Jason Bulmahn and James Jacobs, put them in a quiet room and had some fun building a couple of SoundSets. As a result of the madness and much giggling that went on in that room, I'm now very pleased to present you with two new NPCs to use in your Pathfinder games. With James Jacobs we built a fantastically colorful Tavern Keep, a purveyor of comfortable accommodation, useful information and food and drink of questionable quality. Perfect for any Fantasy adventure that begins in a Tavern. We can't imagine when that might be useful. Jason Bulmahn brings you his notorious Priest of Razmir, a terrifyingly convincing rendition of these usurious, dishonest, blackmailing charlatans. If Jason ever starts a religion, run for the hills.

These have turned out so well, I couldn't resist taking it one step too far. Yup, stick-masks for everybody. I dare you, load up the Razmir Preist on your phone and proselytize to the poor unsuspecting hotel guests at the Hilton. Or hold whole conversations between twin Tavern Keeps. Most importantly, I want photos!

So, if you're lucky enough to be at PaizoCon this year, do make sure you drop by the Syrinscape stand and shake my hand, give your voice, share a laugh and generally geek out with me and the Syrinscape team about the game I love most of all, Pathfinder.

Also... can't WAIT for Sunday's Pathfinder Society Special!

Ben Loomes
Creative Director
Syrinscape

Final Countdown to PaizoCon 2017!

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Everything is coming together for PaizoCon, which starts in a little over 2 weeks. The office is abuzz with final preparations as all of our departments pull together to bring this convention to our fans. Schedules posted on paizo.com last week and the signups are ongoing. Hurry and make your selections, as tomorrow is Lottery Day, how exciting! Some of the games on offer:

• Sewer Dragons of Absalom—an Adventure Card Game adaptation where you play kobolds using pregenerated character decks. Brought to you by David Jacobson and Tyler Beck.
• Skeleton Moon—a retired Pathfinder Society Season 0 scenario ran by the Master of the Dark Stephen Radney-McFarland.
• Out of Retirement—a to be named Season 0 retired scenario hosted by Pathfinder Society developer Linda Zayas-Palmer.
• Season 0 Reborn—Lead developer John Compton offers players the chance to chose which of the retired Season 0 adventures they would like him to run, but no matter the choice all will be challenge filled at his hands.

Besides the lottery games, the Grand Ballroom will once again ring with the sounds of all things organized play. We have tables of Adventure Card Guild, including some demonstrations of the Mummy's Mask Base Set, occurring in the morning and evening slots. Players may check out a base set for use during the afternoon slot, so you can play Adventure Card Game all day long!

Mid-Season 8 adventures are the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild offerings, as well as tables of some of the replayable scenarios such as PFS 5-08: The Confirmation, PFS 6-10: The Wounded Wisp, and PFS 7-10: The Consortium Compact. Sunday evening sees the world premier of the new multi-table modular special PFS 8-99: The Solstice Scar. There are also non-Paizo hosted Pathfinder Society games available in the middle slot. The quest series "Honor's Echo" will run during the hours the Grand Ballroom is open for games, for players wanting to learn about Pathfinder Society or play shorter, 1-hour adventures.

For the mid-day slot, we close the doors on the Grand Ballroom so that attendees have the ability to attend our numerous panels. Want to know more about building Starfinder aliens? You're in luck! Have a question for the Paizo designers? We have that covered too! As well as panels on planning organized play, how comics can make you a better GM, using props in your games, and a myriad of other topics.

Finally, back by popular demand is Quiz Night hosted by John Compton. Join us in the Grand Ballroom on Saturday after the banquet to test your knowledge and see if you can rise victorious. This is a team-based competition, so gather some friends and join us!

Also returning this year is the Pathfinder Society scavenger hunt. A sheet should be in your welcome packet, otherwise stop by the Grand Ballroom and pick one up from the headquarters table. Collect signatures while you meet and greet people at the convention and unlock a reward for your Pathfinder Society character.

Ohio Pathfinder Society Looking for Origins Volunteers!

Venture Captain Michael McNerney is looking for a few individuals to fill some slots at the upcoming Origins Game Faire in Columbus, Ohio, from June 14 to 19. Interested volunteers should sign up using the following links: Roleplaying GM link and Card Guild Organizer or by sending VC Mike an email at ohiopfs@gmail.com.

That wraps up my PaizoCon summary. I'm off to print boons, pack up supplies, and shift focus to Gen Con tasks. Next week, I'll return with a peek into the Gen Con offerings, including a hint of the upcoming Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Season 9.

Explore—Report—Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Adventures Worth Holding Your Breath For

Monday, April 24, 2017

Before we jump into John's preview of this month's Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Scenarios, I'd like to announce the results of the "OPC Needs a New Character" contest. Drumroll, please...

The winner is... *dramatic pause*

Gwinn Jeggare, phantom thief! The author of my new character is Michael Eshleman (greysector)—Congratulations to Michael on the success of his entry!

Kudos to our two finalists, Douglas MacIntyre (for Brenda "Brackish" Hardy, the undine shaman of the deep) and Brent Strom (for Perth)! Hip, hip huzzah!

—Tonya Woldridge, Organized Play Coordinator

Illustration by Jeffrey Lai

Just as the Seattle area transitions from chilly and wet to "sunny yet inexplicably still raining," so too is the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild team eager to get outside and explore some exciting locations. We're also pleased to have an exciting Season 9 schedule in place along with the name and logo, much of which we'll announce at PaizoCon 2017, so be sure to attend the PaizoCon Preview Banquet and the organized play panel the following day to ask any questions you have. In the meantime, let me share a few more secrets about this month's scenarios—both of which lead into our PaizoCon releases!

We kick off the race into convention season with an infamous race in Garund: the famous Sargava Chalice, a survival footrace through the unforgiving wilderness just south of the Mwangi Expanse. In recent years, the race has become increasingly deadly, and the Pathfinder Society has proposed allowing teams to compete as a way to revitalize the contest. The PCs are representing the Pathfinder Society in the race, and if they can brave the traceless frontier while fending off both beasts and rival competitors, they might walk away with the chalice itself—a relic with which the Society can unlock a cyclops ruin from antiquity. Lace up your racing shoes in Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-18: Champion's Chalice, Part 1: Blazing Dangerous Trails by Benjamin Bruck, bravely treaded new ground by adapting a simplified version of Ultimate Intrigue's pursuit rules to track the PCs' progress. Just be warned that one rule hasn't changed: contestants begin the race with nothing but themselves and the cloths on their backs. Time is of the essence in this Tier 1-5 adventure!

Illustrations by Dion Harris and Tom Ventre

Thus far the Pathfinder Society has traveled the elemental planes, compiling what it needs to shatter the Untouchable Opal. We're yet to visit the Plane of Water, and that ends this month as the Society is in pursuit of a crucial tool to realize its goal. Many years ago, the ingenious Pathfinder Zahra was investigating the unforgiving ruins of Koor, and she has since shifted her sights to the magnificent metropolis of Vialesk, a hub for visitors to the Plane of Water. Tragic circumstances ruined the first expedition and tarnished her reputation, but she suspects foul play and has recruited the PCs to find out what really happened. Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-19: Treacherous Waters is an exciting urban adventure set in the underwater city of Vialesk, full of strange environments and even stranger characters. Its author, Eleanor Ferron, not only contributed to Pathfinder Quests: Honor's Echo, but she also made the Plane of Water come alive in Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Planes of Power, making this Tier 3-7 adventure a real testament to her abilities and knowledge of the setting.

As a note for Treacherous Waters, keep in mind that its events tie closely to Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-20: Torrent's Last Will, a Tier 7-11 adventure coming out next month. It's not necessary to play these with the same character, though I do recommend playing them in order.

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

OPC Wants You for PaizoCon 2017!

Monday, February 27, 2017

Writing this blog made me reflect upon last year and trying to plan a convention I hadn't had the fortune to attend. Fortunately, I had two leads, Bob Jonquet and Todd Morgan, who knew the ropes and helped me out. Alas, this year Bob is not part of the team. But in this case, despair is fleeting, as we recruited Walter Sheppard to be co-lead with Todd. Walter brings enthusiasm, energy, and new eyes to PaizoCon 2017. And since this is the 10th PaizoCon, the pressue is on to make it bigger and shinier than ever. We've got industry superstars, we've got leadership, and now we need you, the volunteers, to help make the event a success!

While there's more events and exciting PaizoCon happenings up our sleeves, I'll leave that to Sara Marie to announce as we get closer to the show. For now, I'll give you a hint of what's in store for Pathfinder Society events run out of the HUGE ballroom on the main floor, full of gaming goodness.

The Roleplaying Guild tables will be offering the later portion of Season 8 Year of the Stolen Storm scenarios, starting with #8-06: Reaping What You Sow (and maybe we can even tempt Linda into offering a table or two of this adventure she wrote). When scheduling games, we try to balance the focus on the season's metaplot while also offering a variety of games for our players. Sunday evening, we'll be debuting a new special: #8-99: The Solstice Star. This news is so new, that there isn't even a product page ready for it yet!

Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild returns with Season of Plundered Tombs. We will start at the beginning and offer all published scenarios, which should take you most of the way through the series. We will also offer back seasons, such as Season of the Runelords, available on demand. We still have a few weeks to finalize the schedule, so expect to hear more about ACG offerings.

One big change this year is the handling of games in the midday slot. In the past, this slot was unofficially overseen by Venture-Captain Louis Manko Levite (yep, he got promoted!). Unfortunately, this caused some logistical issues as well as confusion for attendees, and this year we will be closing the ballroom during this slot. Instead of unofficial games and paper-based signups at the show, if a GM wants to run a game in this slot, they will need to submit the information to our open call for events. Submitted events will be put up as part of our overall event schedule so that PaizoCon attendees may sign up as they would any other during event registration. Keep an eye out on the blog, as Sara Marie will be putting the call out for event submission soon!

Additionally, we will not be scheduling separate Core Roleplaying Guild tables. If you wish to play a Core session, find a table of like-minded friends and sign up during event registration. When you sit down to play, let your GM know that you wish the play a Core game.

We estimate needing over fifty GMs and Card Guild volunteers to ensure Pathfinder Society at PaizoCon runs smoothly. We also have a very limited number of HQ slots available. 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:

Slot	RPG/ACG GMs	HQ
Friday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Friday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Saturday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
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:

Tier	Badge	Print Product	T-Shirts	Store Credit	Boon/Reward
Tier 1 (6 slots)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Tier 2 (5 slots)	✔	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 3 (3 slots)	—	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 4 (1 slot)	—	—	—	✔	—

The details of each benefit are as follows:

• Badge—A free 4-Day PaizoCon 2017 badge
• Print Product—A FREE copy of one Paizo print product of your choice valued at $59.99 or less (excludes preorders or backorders).
• T-Shirts—Limited release t-shirts given every other year.
• Store Credit—Paizo.com store credit at $10 per slot
• Boon/Reward—An PaizoCon exclusive boon (RPG) or reward (ACG)

Those interested in volunteering, please complete the PaizoCon 2017 volunteer questionnaire. My plan is to review the emails around March 6th, and begin responding then. I will consider every email, but reserve the right to select volunteers who have worked at PaizoCon in prior years.

Thanks to all who give of their time and resources to help make Pathfinder Society the largest organized play program in the world. You rock!

For now, I'm off to Emerald City Comic Con this weekend here in Seattle. Anyone else headed out to a convention or got a game planned? Tell me about them!

Until next week—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator