New Pathfinder Society Scenarios, What's In a Name?

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

March has been a month for announcements, most notably the Pathfinder Second Edition announcement two weeks ago. In case you missed it, also be sure to check out the FAQ for Pathfinder Society in the new edition as well as the follow-up blog from last week, when we provided even more information about the upcoming campaign and how we're soliciting your feedback to help shape the experience. Expect another blog soon, exploring ways we're aiming to handle the playtest and other topics.

Speaking of exploration, we have new adventures this week!

Ever since Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-16: House of Harmonious Wisdom, the team's been excited to include more quest content into our yearly schedule. This season we take a long-overdue trip to Isger, where the government has recently declassified documents from the Goblinblood Wars, whose wounds still feel fresh two decades later. Among the papers is a reference to the Irrica family, who possessed a powerful weapon that kept them safe from House Thrune's interference. These documents provide enough leads to reassemble that tool, but anything potent enough to spook Cheliax's ruling family is too dangerous to leave where anyone can find it. In the Tier 1-5 Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-16: Fallen Family, Broken Name, the PCs dig into the wars' aftermath—including the involvement of the goblins, Druman Blackjackets, and Hellknights—and travel across Isger.

Not only has this been a great opportunity to work with the authors Saif Ansari, Louis Manko Levite, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Kevin Willis, and Scott Young, but it's also been a great chance for our newest developer Michael Sayre to work on scenarios. It's the kind of experience you'd want to repeat again and again, which is great because these quests are freely replayable with 1st-level characters.

Illustrations by Tawny Fritz

Looking to our next scenario, let me step aside to let Linda Zayas-Palmer take over.

What if you're in the mood for something a bit more dangerous? Then check out this month's Tier 5-9 scenario, Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-17: Oath of the Overwatched, brought to you by Isabelle Lee. The Blakros Museum has seen its fair share of troubles over the years, but today's events have Zarta Dralneen and Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin rushing to the scene personally. The mysterious copper gate beneath the museum is dissolving into a morass of twisted space at the behest of beings from beyond the stars. The PCs will need more than strength in battle if they hope to charge beyond the gate, stop these beings' foul plots, and return with their sanity intact. The poor soul shown in this image by Teresa Guido was not so fortunate. Isabelle did a great job providing interesting and varied ways for the PCs to unravel the story of the accursed realm, including a particularly unusual NPC in the second portion. If you want to know more, you'll need to send your PCs in to find out, or gather up a group of brave players.

Illustrations by Teresa Guido

And with that, we're back to developing more scenarios, sanctioning more playable content, and working toward our best convention season yet!

John Compton
Organized Play Developer

And So It Begins

Thursday, August 17, 2017

It's about time we wrap-up our previews for the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Gen Con 2017 releases. Moving away from the quest pack and special we previewed in our last blog post, today we're going to talk about scenarios #1-01, 1-02, and 1-03!

I've previously gushed about Eleanor Ferron's work on Starfinder Society #1-01: The Commencement in some of our faction blogs. This scenario follows in the footsteps of many Pathfinder Society "evergreen" scenarios, like The Confirmation and the venerable First Steps (wow, now I feel old). Like those well-known introductory Pathfinder scenarios, The Commencement is a repeatable scenario for characters in Tier 1-2 where the PCs partake in some missions for four of the Society's primary factions—sorry Second Seekers, but you get a whole season metaplot dedicated to your missions! The Organized Play team agreed that The Commencement would be an introduction to the Starfinder Society and our initial factions, so we knew we wanted someone who could really take the skeletal outlines of our faction leaders and run with them. If you've been reading the faction blogs, you can get a sense of these faction leaders. When you play The Commencement, you'll see exactly how superb a job that Eleanor Ferron has done in bringing each of these major NPCs to life.

Illustrations by Tawny Fritz and Tom Ventre

One scenario we haven't had a good chance to spotlight, at least until now, is Starfinder Society #1-02: Fugitive on the Red Planet. Let me be blunt: this adventure takes place on Akiton and is our first attempt at telling a "space western". Jim Groves, a longtime friend and longstanding Adventure Path and organized play freelance author, took up the challenge of writing this scenario. I knew Jim had really nailed the theme when I found myself humming a tune during my development pass—a tune about "a hero from some place" and "a man they call something". Beyond these obvious homages to western stories, there are some strong connections to the greater Starfinder setting. This is our first view of Starfinder's rendition of Akiton, as well as the introduction of some key Starfinder Society issues brought forth by the disastrous Scoured Stars incident. My favorite aspect of Fugitive on the Red Planet is the introduction of a particular shirren NPC. I have noticed a lot of fans referring to Keskodai as "bug dad" in conversations; well, this new NPC quickly became known as "business bug" during my development pass.

Starfinder Society #1-03: Yesteryear's Truth is our final Gen Con 2017 Starfinder Society release. I have a strange professional relationship with the author of this adventure, the incredibly talented Jason Keeley. It seems that over the past year, Jason and I have been leapfrogging on developing each other's work. Since Jason had just recently finished developing some of my text from the Starfinder Core Rulebook, I figured I needed to return the favor and offer him one of our launch scenarios so I could get back in the development seat. The result is a scenario that I think a lot of people are going to be talking about for quite some time. In Yesteryear's Truth, the PCs set foot on a previously unexplored world wracked by a nuclear war. This scenario has it all: starship combat, exploration, social encounters with alien species, and even some archaeological discoveries with some hefty moral quandaries. On top of all those things, this is our first scenario with a special faction opportunity (denoted by the Faction tag on the adventure's credits page). The Wayfinders, being a faction about exploration and peaceful first contact, understandably have some vested interest in the PCs' success!

That's it for Gen Con previews! I'm now in Indianapolis and getting ready for "the best four days in gaming." If you spot me at the convention—likely in the Sagamore Ballroom—please feel free to say hi! Otherwise, we'll be back soon to talk about the Starfinder Society its base of operations, the Lorespire Complex.

John's Note: Need more playable Starfinder Society content? We've also finished sanctioning the first volume of Starfinder #1: Incident on Absalom Station! Take a look at its product page for a link to download the sanctioning document. We (okay, admittedly it's more Thursty) will be sanctioning subsequent volumes closer to their respective release dates.

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Spies Are All Around Me, Spies in Every Country

Thursday, June 16, 2016

You want to know about Pathfinder Player Companion: Spymaster's Handbook? Yes, that's information we have, but it was not easily obtained. There were risks for a number of assets, and significant costs in the acquisition operations. You are valued clients of course but...

Why yes, that DOES settle the matter quite nicely, thank you.

Illustrations by Tawny Fritz and Kiri Ostergaard Leonard

Spies and information brokers are a fact of life on Golarion, for nearly any large organization. Kingdoms need to know what other kingdoms are plotting, so as to best make their own plans, while at the same time keeping their own secrets hidden. Churches, schools, guilds, and merchants have their own need to control the flow of information leaking out of their inner chambers. Many groups have dedicated espionage branches, such as the Twilight Talons of Andoran, while others combine information gathering and enforcement, as with the Silent Shroud in Nidal. Smaller or less wealthy groups often must depend on independent spymasters, which may be as simple as buying information from the Church of Calistria to as complex as putting together bands of freelancers to acquire specific intelligence.

The Spymaster's Handbook explores all these options, beginning with what causes a character to become some kind of spy. Numerous espionage backgrounds are presented, along with related traits (from Chelish Sympathyzer to Youthful Infiltrator) and drawbacks (many spies must deal with being Betrayed, or hiding some Secret Shame). Secret agendas are presented in new Story Feats, to allows an espionage character to have an element of spycraft added to their character as part of a typical ongoing campaign. New rules on information dealing allows secrets to be bought and sold as commodities, making secret-running a potentially lucrative line of work.

And of course new character options tie characters with secret to the lore of Golarion. Spy elements within groups ranging from the Blackjackets to the Starwatch are tied to be magic items, feats, and spells. Espionage spells allow you to steal a victim's face, or encourage a target to speak endlessly on a topic of your choice. And the ultimate secret-keeper, the vigilante, is given three new archetypes, and a host of social and vigilante talents.

For a little extra I can even preview one of the new spells present in the book? Ah yes, always a pleasure doing business with you.

Claim Identity

School transmutation (polymorph); Level alchemist 3, antipaladin 3, bard 3, druid 4, inquisitor 3, shaman 4, sorcerer/wizard 4, witch 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a needle and thread)

Range touch

Target humanoid creature touched

Duration 1 hour/level

Saving Throw Fortitude negates; Spell Resistance yes


You steal the target's face, transforming yourself into a flawless imitation of it. All of the target's facial features, vocal cues, and identifying physical traits change, transforming it into an unremarkable member of its race and gender. You transform into a perfect likeness of the target's true form, as if affected by alter self, and gain a +10 bonus on Disguise checks to impersonate the original subject of this spell; you take no penalties on this check if the original target is of a different race, age, size,
or gender.

Claim identity prevents any other polymorph effects from restoring the target's true face for the spell's duration, though the target can still assume
other forms or faces via magic or any natural shapechanging ability.

Owen K.C. Stephens
Developer