It’s nearly August 1st, and that means we’re about a week away from launching the Second Edition of Pathfinder in all its glory. What better way to do that than with some great adventures? Today we’re previewing not only the final scenario for the First Edition campaign, but also the wealth of new Second Edition content kicking off the Year of the Open Road!

First off, we have the last scenario for Pathfinder Society with the First Edition rules: Passing the Torch, Part 2: Who Speaks for the Ten. This scenario features the dream team of John Compton and Thurston Hillman as authors (neither of whom wrote this part of the blog, so I can get away with praising them). It’s written for Tier 12–18, so if you’re looking for a chance to play high level content, I recommend that you play June’s scenario Passing the Torch, Part 1: Who Wears the Mask first, then continue the story to its grand conclusion here.

In Passing the Torch Part 2, the PCs return to Absalom only to find the Grand Lodge’s gates sealed, with all manner of chaos taking place within. The PCs are the last line of defense against the schemes of an evil mastermind who plans to unbury and animate deceased Pathfinders on a massive scale. In this scenario, the PCs learn new secrets about the mysterious Decemvirate, and must make several crucial decisions. One of these concerns the fate of the polarizing and enigmatic information broker Grandmaster Torch, illustrated below by Vicky Yarova. If you want to uncover more of this scenario’s mysteries, put on your GM hat or bring your highest-level character and dive in!

Illustration by Vicky Yarova

In Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-00: Origin of the Open Road, a Tier 5 adventure for pregenerated characters written by Ron Lundeen, the PCs are sent to Nexus House in Quantium, looking to retrieve some old records of the Pathfinder Society missing from the Grand Lodge’s oft-beset archives. As the PCs undertake their mission to find the documents detailing long-missing truths about the origins of the Pathfinder Society itself, the magical constructs and abstruse arcanists of Quantium present unexpected aid and obstacles in near equal measure!

Arcane guardians and alchemical creations are far from the only threats the PCs will face, however. Other parties seek to glean the ancient secrets of Nexus House for their own purposes, while those who count themselves as friends of the Society juggle their own responsibilities. What friends and nemeses hide in Quantium’s shadows? What allies might the PCs discover as they seek the lost histories of the Pathfinder Society?

Illustration by Emmanuele Desiati

Pathfinder Society Scenario 1-01: The Absalom Initiation, by Lyz Liddell, is the scenario to play if you want a strong grounding in Pathfinder Society lore. This Tier 1–4 scenario begins with the PCs receiving a party invitation from newly promoted Head Initiate Janira Gavix (illustrated by Gislaine Avila). Visit iconic locations in Absalom like the Blakros Museum, meet the new faction leaders, and learn what the faction leaders from First Edition are doing now. As this scenario is repeatable, players who participate in the scenario for a second and third time are likely to find themselves learning the stories of different First Edition faction leaders and embarking on different missions, facing new challenges along the way.

Illustration by Gislaine Avila

When the team was brainstorming scenario ideas, we began asking ourselves what kinds of adventures we’d created recently: explore the place, recover the artifact, punch the villain, and that type has received plenty of attention, but we recognized that for all the Pathfinders love breaking into sites, they’ve not spent nearly enough time investigating cryptids. Months before, a close friend had insisted that a spooky being known as the Mosquito Witch was a well-known cryptid, yet for all our searching, we could find no reference to such a creature on the internet. It seemed the ideal time for a cryptid hunt, the Mosquito Witch seemed the ideal creature, and we found the ideal author to write Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-02: The Mosquito Witch: Eleanor Ferron, who brings an endearing yet haunting creepiness to the adventure. At long last the creature can spread its sinister wings and come to life! I mean, just look at that adorable commemorative Mosquito Witch doll!

The PCs travel to the quaint river town of Shimmerford, which has embraced the Mosquito Witch legend for decades ever since residents first spotted the creature. But what had been a light-hearted mascot cryptid for the town has recently become a living nightmare. It’s up to the PCs to get to the bottom of this local legend before they and the entire populace are sucked dry!

Illustration by Christopher Kimball

For our next adventure, Pathfinder Society Scenario #1–03: Escaping the Grave, author Adrian Ng takes us on a Tier 1–4 adventure into the undead-haunted Gravelands. As the undead hordes serving Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant, ravaged the Inner Sea, heroes of the Pathfinder Society united to form a powerful line of defense against the encroaching darkness. When the Tyrant was defeated, the Society’s brave explorers were the first to re-enter the Gravelands, seeking to recover the irreplaceable relics of Lastwall, aid any lost survivors, and survey the extent of Tar-Baphon’s corruption. Most have not returned from the haunted and blasted lands.

Those members of the Society who have completed the round trip to and from the Gravelands have returned with valuable information, including relatively safe roads and passages, as well as detailed information on the movements of the undead hordes patrolling the countryside. Armed with this information, Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss calls for Pathfinder agents willing to undertake a somber task indeed: rescue any surviving Pathfinders near a small town, and if they’re confirmed dead, retrieve their bodies (or at least their wayfinders) so that the brave agents can be memorialized on the Wall of Names and so their families and friends might have proper closure. The PCs will need to be quick if they are to get in and out without drawing the attention of Tar-Baphon’s unbreathing minions, but some undead are faster than others, and speed alone will not be enough to complete this vital task.

Illustration by Teresa Guido

Pathfinder Society Quest 1A: The Sandstone Secret, is a Tier 1–4 quest. In this adventure, the PCs travel to a recently discovered site in Osirion, only to find out someone unexpected waiting for them within. Whatever the case may be, the guard watching over the site, Officer Elrekah, hasn’t noticed anything amiss (illustration by Dion Harris). This quest is repeatable, and author Linda Zayas-Palmer wrote it with that in mind. It features three different possible encounters as well a batch of clues for the GM to pull from to keep the scenario fresh on multiple playthroughs.

Illustration by Dion Harris

The whole team’s excited to share these new adventures and see so many of you at Gen Con 2019! You can find us at the Paizo booth (Exhibitors Hall Booth # ) and up in the Sagamore Ballroom (where the organized play action’s happening).

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

Michael Sayre
Developer

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Developer