Shattered Shields and Tattered Tapestries

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Illustration by Tom Ventre

December brings us two scenarios dealing with artifacts that play a vital role in the story of the Pathfinder Society, and perhaps in the future of Golarion itself (not to oversell you on the importance of playing these adventures or anything)!

The first scenario I'll be talking about is Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-10: The Shattered Shield, a Tier 1-5 scenario that takes the Pathfinders back to the nation of Rahadoum, where organized religion is banned and merely being found to possess religious iconography, like a cleric's holy symbol, can result in stiff fines or even banishment for repeat offenders. Searching for a stolen religious artifact in Rahadoum can prove a challenge, and the Pathfinders will find that very few of Rahadoum's citizens are interested in making things any easier for them.

Adventures in Rahadoum can prove difficult, both for the adventurers who must navigate the delicate political landscape where some of their most common and vital tools are banned, and for the writers who have to make an adventure in such a volatile environment work. Fortunately Paizo editor and adventure author Leo Glass rose to the occasion, providing an adventure that is both challenging and rewarding. Illicit auctions, attempted assassinations, and twisted games of chance all build towards a confrontation where the stakes are far greater than they seem. Of course, no adventure is complete without memorable friends and foes! I'll let you guess which camp this cloaked figure and her poppet fit into.

If artifact hunting in the secular lands of Rahadoum doesn't strike your fancy, fear not! We've got something a bit weirder for our more experienced Pathfinders. Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-11: The Hao Jin Hierophant is a Tier 5-9 scenario that explores the Society's efforts inside the Hao Jin Tapestry following the events of this year's interactive special Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-00: The Hao Jin Cataclysm. This story will be continued in January with Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-13: Fragments of Antiquity, and developed even further in February with Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-15: Tapestry's Trial. The Society has fought many bitter battles, both for possession of the magical artifact known as the Hao Jin Tapestry and within the eponymous demiplane it contains. These battles have weakened the magical fabric of the tapestry to the very breaking point, and now no one among the Pathfinders can be certain how much time the tapestry has left before it unravels once and for all.

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Traveling into the Hao Jin Tapestry, the PCs are tasked with recovering the lore and artifacts of an ancient Tian culture all but lost from Golarion. Complications arise as the PCs discover the fate of an old ally and wander into a deadly diversion whose seeds were planted by an old foe. Adding even more to the challenge, the tapestry itself strains to hold its threads together, and strange planar storms and weirder phenomena abound! Fortunately adventure author Jessica Redekop was more than up to the task of exploring time bubbles, disappearing landscapes, and evil extraplanar vegetation! Even if the PCs successfully navigate the hazards laid before them, they must still face the steel (or obsidian) of the deadly Hao Jin Hierophant, portrayed below by artist Michele Giorgi!

We hope you have as much fun playing and running these as we had in developing them. Coming up in the next several months, we'll be continuing the Hao Jin Tapestry storyline and traveling to the far edges of the Inner Sea region!

Michael Sayre
Organized Play Developer

Monasteries, Monuments, and Mysteries

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Illustration by Tadas Sidluahskas

Gen Con lands a little earlier each year, and while that ambitious publication schedule means there's tons of new material that arrives in early August, it means nearly two months before the next scenarios arrive in late September. The long wait is nearly over! The team's been working on a variety of Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild scenarios that highlight northwestern Avistan in dramatically different ways. Let's hear from the developers who worked on each one.

Linda Zayas-Palmer (Organized Play Developer): What better way to celebrate the approach of Halloween than with some spooky scenarios? This month, we're kicking off a new Tier 3-7 two-part series with Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-05: Mysteries Under Moonlight Part 1: Testament of Souls, by Alex Augunas. The city of Magnimar is well known for its monuments and the blessings they provide to those who perform the proper rituals before them. Now, however, several of the monuments have been corrupted by necromantic energy from an unknown source. Out-of-control flames and the eerie moans of lost spirits haunt Magnimar's people. Magnimar's Lord-Mayor Grobaras has hired an investigator—illustrated below by Tadas Sidluahskas—but with the situation worsening rapidly, the Varisian Council has asked the Pathfinder Society to step in and put an end to the corruption. If the PCs succeed here, they'll receive a unique blessing that they can use to be particularly awesome in Mysteries Under Moonlight, Part 2!

Illustration by Dion Harris

Michael Sayre (Organized Play Developer): I'm really excited to talk about this month's Tier 7-11 adventure Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-04: Reaver's Roar from Steven Hammond. Reaver's Roar takes the PCs to the town of Roslar's Coffer in Lastwall, where local legend has it a magical helm blessed by Sarenrae lies in the heart of an ancient temple known as the Bastion of Light, guarded by a fearsome beast. Will the PCs survive the Reaver of Roslar's Coffer, or will someone beat them to the prize? And who exactly is this individual illustrated by Dion Harris, and what does he have to do with the mysteries hidden within the Bastion?

John Compton (Organized Play Lead Developer): Normally we'd have just two Pathfinder Society scenarios per month, but with the ongoing Pathfinder Playtest, we wanted to ensure that there would be plenty of playtest material. This month we release the fourth and final Pathfinder Playtest scenario: The Frozen Oath, a Tier 10 adventure written by Ron Lundeen. The Pathfinder Society's increasingly reached out to freelance explorers to map areas, survey regions, and perform other long-term studies. Although goblins aren't renowned for their scholarly rigor, an increasing number of them have sought out work with the Society. A group of Frostfur goblins recently set out into the chilly Crown of the World, and only one has returned, carrying a stone tablet that suggests the group found a large monument tied to the legendary explorer Aganhei! With the summer solstice over, the PCs need to move swiftly to reach the site while the warm weather lasts.

Illustration by Tom Ventre

Unlike the previous three Pathfinder Playtest adventures, this scenario DOES NOT include pregenerated characters. As you schedule this scenario, it is important that you either include enough time for your players to build characters or have them create characters ahead of time.

Speaking of pregenerated characters, the team's been continually revising the pregenerated character format with the help of our senior graphic designer Emily Crowell. She's created several different styles that prioritize different features, such as grouping similar information together, presenting an overview of a character's abilities on the front page, using a vertical or landscape format, and more. Our aim's to get the pregenerated character survey done soon, including some of these pregenerated character formats as visuals to get your feedback on the current formats, the changes we've explored, and what else you'd like to see.

In the meantime, be sure you're continuing to playtest Pathfinder's second edition and provide us your feedback through the surveys.

John Compton, Michael Sayre, and Linda Zayas-Palmer
Organized Play Developers

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

Quoth the Tengu, "Adventure More"

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

One of the great advantages of working in the organized play medium is that we produce so many scenarios. That means that when there's a lot of fan interest in a certain area, group, or topic, we can usually look a little further down the schedule and say, "I think we could make some room here." Every since Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-13: Of Kirin and Kraken we've had more requests for adventures set in Kwanlai and featuring tengus. For that matter, ever since Taldor was a Pathfinder Society faction, players and GMs have asked me when they'd be able to bring about serious reform in that nation—admittedly some were asking so that they could snag a better noble title. This month we're doing both, and we're really pleased with the scenarios releasing today.

For all Kwanlai's outward appearance as a unified nation, it's a diverse confederation of tengu clans that often contend with each other over power, religion, and deeply rooted feuds. The isolated village of Yiangma is a spectator in many of these feuds, instead dedicated to maintaining an ancient shrine with heavenly ties. However, the village's priests have not sent any report to its archon contact, Zepha, in a long time. Concerned that something might be wrong, Zepha tasks the PCs in Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-12: Shrine of the Sacred Tempest with traveling to Yiangma to check in, after which they are free to study the settlement's priceless relics and history for the Society.

In this Tier 1-5 adventure by Justin Juan, the PCs explore a village comprised almost entirely of tengus, immersing the PCs in rural Kwanlai's culture and the greater region's history. Naturally, we couldn't present a Kwanlai scenario without highlighting the tengus' favorite deity, the tempestuous Hei Feng, and we're very excited about the excellent illustrations by Tom Ventre that appear in this scenario. It should also come as no surprise that any task so closely tied to an archon also has strong Silver Crusade connections, too. Finally, if you're dismayed that such a fun scenario's too low level for your beloved tengu character, I'm happy to report that there's a Tier 5-9 scenario coming up in this region in a few more months.

Illustrations by Tom Ventre

Ever since my colleague Crystal Frasier and I began planning the War for the Crown Adventure Path, we wanted to tell the story of Taldor's succession conflict from the perspective of multiple campaigns. Not only does that approach demonstrate that such major events don't happen inside a vacuum, but this development has also remained one of the Sovereign Court faction's top projects. Taldor's senate has been fiercely debating the antiquated rule of primogeniture, the nation's practice of passing the crown only to a male heir. On one side is Princess Eutropia, the reform-minded daughter of the current ruler. On the other is Grand Prince Stavian III, her increasingly paranoid father. The Sovereign Court backs Eutropia, and in the past several months' scenarios, Pathfinders have assisted this faction—both to help Lady Morilla as well as to secure historical resources that the Society's long wanted to study. Now it's all come to this: an imminent senate vote that coincides with a major Taldan holiday.

Remember how I mentioned Crystal and I were coordinating stories? One of my favorite elements is how this month's Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-13: The Lion's Justice happens at the same time as many events in Pathfinder #127: Crownfall, the first installment in War for the Crown, each portraying the action from a different angle. Sounds tough to coordinate? It's definitely taken some forethought and effort, yet our jobs were made so much easier by convincing Thurston Hillman (also our Starfinder Society Developer) to write both adventures. This experiment in product interaction—and this Tier 7-11 scenario with Sovereign Court ties—wouldn't have been the same without his tireless contributions.

And if these bold illustrations by Sebastian Rodriguez are any indication, it's all paid off beautifully. Anyone who's mocked Taldor's competences has clearly never had to face down its greatest knights.

Illustrations by Sebastian Rodriguez

Finally, you'll notice that #9-13 has a rather weird boon on its Chronicle sheet, and I'd like to explain that for anyone wondering.

Spoilers for The Lion's Justice

For a long while we've noticed that the Pathfinder Society doesn't have much of a retirement plan. Sure, there was the old wisdom that one's career ended at 12th level—which we've since dispelled with sanctioned modules and ongoing seeker-level content—but what happens after a PC decides to hang up her greatsword, change careers, or even retire in-world?

To this end, we've included a boon with the Legacy tag on this scenario's Chronicle sheet. A Legacy boon doesn't necessarily have any mechanical benefits. Instead, its primary purpose is to note the meaningful impact your character had on the world, whether that's changing a country or just changing a life. We also intend for Legacy boons to convey some in-world perk with long-lasting effects, much as is the case in this adventure, with your character having a place where everyone's always ready to treat her like family. Finally, adding a specific tag allows us to consider future boons that might interact with Legacy boons, allowing us to tie together these events more cleanly.

Overall, though, it's a reminder of something good that you did. Enjoy!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead 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

Keeping Busy With New Adventures

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Phew! I always think of the months leading up to PaizoCon and Gen Con as the busiest time of the year, and while that's true, it often downplays the holiday season's tight schedule to get all of the scenarios ready a little earlier so that our colleagues can head off for some well-deserved rest at the end of the year. That doesn't mean you're off the hook, either—remember that you should be voting (and encouraging your friends to vote) in the ongoing Leaders in Liberty event to help direct the Liberty's Edge faction. After that, we have two great new scenarios for you to enjoy.

The first is Pathfinder Society Scenario #9–08: Birthright Betrayed, a Tier 1–5 scenario by Sam Polak. I'm excited about this adventure for numerous reasons, and the one you've likely heard me talk about before is the Sovereign Court opportunities that tie into the upcoming War for the Crown Adventure Path. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since Crystal Frasier and I first began scheming this crossover. The wait to hear everyone's reactions to various scenes (including several that have left Thurston Hillman calling me "a monster” for the past 6 months) seems unbearable, but at last our first installation is here!

In Birthright Betrayed, the Pathfinder Society has an opportunity to study relics from the Shining Crusade. The problem is that those same exhibits are in a museum the local baron has habitually ransacked to promote his public image, in the process shaming his glorious ancestor. It's as much a service to history as it is a favor for the Sovereign Court faction to take this baron down a peg, particularly once the PCs begin investigating what's really been happening around the Taldan city of Ridonport. Even low-level PCs can accomplish big things in this scenario and walk away not just feeling like heroes but also being told that they saved the day. Sam's made this especially charming by providing numerous opportunities to meet and interact with the people of Taldor—not just the nobles we see in most Taldan adventures, but also the everyday folks just trying to make ends meet. I've included two of my favorite new NPC portraits from this adventure, both by Sebastian Gomez.

Illustrations by Sebastian Gomez

Overall it promises to be a great start to this story, which includes a Tier 3–7 scenario next month and a Tier 7–11 scenario in January (right before War for the Crown launches in February). This is indicative of a trend you'll see in Season 9. Specifically, there are very few officially multi-part series, unlike in past seasons. Instead, each faction has an ongoing storyline that we've tried to spread over the season as appropriate, and in almost all cases these faction scenarios' tiers get higher over time. The hope's that if you want to really play all 2–3 adventures with the same PC, you can, but the stories are typically partitioned in such a way that you can still have a meaningful experience if you use a few different PCs to play the adventures (see the recent pair of Scarab Sages scenarios for a good example). This also means that each of the factions gets a good level spread over Season 9, so you don't need to be low level to experience the Liberty's Edge story or high level to appreciate what the Dark Archive's doing. Overall, we're tinkering with how we've always done things to deliver some fun stories in different ways.

Speaking of traditions, we've made something of a tradition of releasing a new replayable scenario around this time of year. Linda Zayas-Palmer has increasingly taken the lead on these special projects, so it's only right that we hear directly from her about what to expect.

Our second scenario this month is the replayable 3–7 adventure Pathfinder Society Scenario #9–09: Beyond the Halflight Path. Like its older sister Pathfinder Society Scenario #8–07: From the Tome of Righteous Repose, Beyond the Halflight Path is packed with opportunities for the GM to customize her adventure. The story takes the PCs to Kaer Maga, an eclectic city whose ancient history refuses to stay buried. It's up to the PCs to get to the bottom of a troublesome mystery and strike against its source in the vaults below. What is the threat? What is the background behind it? Who even gives the mission briefing? All of these depend upon how the GM decides to assemble the story.

Brian Duckwitz really stepped up to the plate in writing this adventure. I left a lot of room in the outline for him to come up with possible plots, and you'll see many of those ideas in the adventure. I don't want to put spoilers here, so I'll just say: check out the Scintillating Halls arcs. They are delightfully creepy. When it comes to encounters, think about how many encounters are in typical scenario, and then multiply that by around seven. Now imagine adjusting everything for four players and giving every last creature its own tactics. Oh, and make each of the nine possible villains interesting and distinctive while you are at it. It was a serious undertaking, and Brian did an excellent job.

Illustration by Tom Ventre

This was also an opportunity to get some more great Duskwarden art, this time as depicted by Tom Ventre.

That's all for this week! I hope that (as is true for Pathfinders as for players in real life) everyone travels safely if you're heading out of town for the holiday season. Remember to look up local games to share the cheer with others, no matter where you're wintering this year.

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

Leaders in Liberty 2

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Back in July, the organized play team launched an exciting contest called Leaders in Liberty to name and detail a new character in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild canon. We read the entries, narrowed it down to our top picks, and invited the community to vote on the best candidate. In mid October we had our winner, Karisa Starsight as presented by Sam Sampson!

When we first launched the contest, we were a little coy about exactly how this character might feature in the campaign. We were, after all, several weeks away from releasing Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-02: A Case of Missing Persons, which provides considerably more context. If you haven't played it yet, I both strongly encourage that you do so, and I will be providing only the slimmest spoilers (you can see more in the spoil-tagged section below). Namely, Major Colson Maldris is not currently available to provide the Liberty's Edge faction the necessary guidance and oversight. While this faction is likely one of the best equipped to operate without a leader, we want to bring in someone who can not only provide leadership in the difficult time, but also guide the faction's vision and steer its reforms in the wake of Maldris's rather spotty legacy.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-02 Spoiler:

Major Colson Maldris has gone missing, and it seems he's enlisted some very questionable allies. Without an appointed leader, the Liberty's Edge faction needs someone to keep the operation running smoothly and coordinate the hunt for Maldris.

That's right, we're asking you to help pick a faction leader.

We have two candidates, whose backstories I'll summarize below along with a snapshot of their strengths and style. The first is Leaders in Liberty contest winner Karisa Starsight, who you can read about in more detail in this September blog. The second is Tamrin Credence, a halfling smuggler and freelance freedom fighter. Let's meet them both.

Illustration by Tom Ventre

Karisa Starsight

The slaver Kolm Redarax found the infant Karisa aboard a derelict Bonuwat ship, and he was so taken by her unexplained presence and strikingly blue eyes that he adopted her as his daughter. She worked hard aboard that ship, tending to the slaves her adoptive father shuttled from port to port. Whereas he saw these souls as chattel, she quietly grew to respect and pity them. As she reached adulthood, Karisa struggled between her love and loyalty for her father and the plights of the people he bought and sold.

Several years ago, Andoren privateers known as the Gray Corsairs assaulted their ship, subduing the crew and freeing the slaves. When the Corsairs' captain was on the verge of slaying Redarax, Karisa intervened, swearing her own life, service, and freedom to Andoran in exchange for his life. Not want to condemn the young woman to anything resembling slavery, the captain provided a different offer: she could instead apprentice to an upstanding Eagle Knight, and Redarax would live out his sentence in an Andoren prison. Karisa eagerly accepted.

Her mentor was none other than Major Colson Maldris, and she has excelled as his aide. Over the past year, her duties have more resembled those of a steward, overseeing some of the Liberty's Edge faction's operations while Maldris traveled farther afield. Even so, there's a side of Maldris that she's only now uncovering as she tries to find his current whereabouts and holds together the initiatives he set in motion. All the while she wonders at the irony that no matter his morals, Karisa's father is in chains while she promotes liberty in the Inner Sea region and beyond.

Strengths: Karisa Starsight has a much more intimate familiarity with the faction's operations, which inclines her toward making changes and executing missions "within the system" while also watching for hypocrisies that undermine the faction's goals. She has solid connections within the Eagle Knights without being one herself. She's also the more self-reflective candidate, likely to examine the faction's moral pillars and assess how the faction could do better. Even so, her childhood on the seas leaves her ready to tackle threats head-on when needed.

---

Illustration by Kenneth Camaro

Tamrin Credence

Trained as a sommelier, butler, and shopping assistant, the halfling now known as Tamrin Credence spent his first 26 years as a Chelish slave, albeit a well-treated one. When a tiller (a member of the halfling liberation group called the Bellflower Network) infiltrated the estate and laid plans to lead a few halfling slaves to freedom, Tamrin made a counter-offer: he would create a distraction so the tiller could escape with twice as many souls. The plan worked, albeit at a cost. By the time the tiller returned to lead him out of Cheliax, the halfling butler had received many scars for his deception.

Tamrin Credence is a self-styled name that the halfling adopted in the decade since, both to distance him emotionally from his subjugated past and to create a new identity that wouldn't lead to his recapture. He's continued to assist the Bellflower Network as a spy and supplier, often leading him into dangerous territory or treacherous relationships. Although he's infiltrated and worked with the Aspis Consortium and Cheliax's port authorities to this end, his most infamous rivalry is that with Zarta Dralneen, whom he regularly undermined while she served Cheliax as that nation's liaison to the Pathfinder Society. Only once she fell from Cheliax's good graces, suffered unforgiveable offenses by her former allies, and sought refuge with the Society did the two agents begin finding common ground. They've now worked together on coordinating several missions, though years of thwarting each other's ambitions leave them prone to verbally sniping at each other over unresolved gripes they're yet to bury.

Tamrin's experience with the Liberty's Edge faction is modest, having only worked with Major Colson Maldris a few times before the former began more concerted collaboration in the past 18 months. Even so, he's a proud "liberator of humanoid assets" with criminal and business contacts in dozens of cities. What he lacks in faction experience, he makes up for in gutsiness, survivability, cunning, and a willingness to lead from the front as needed.

Strengths: Tamrin Credence is a pragmatic individual who doesn't mind breaking a few unreasonable rules if he can mitigate the harm to innocent bystanders and maximize the benefit for oppressed people. He's witnessed the dark underbelly of several infamous operations firsthand, and he knows that no matter how seductive those groups might seem at times, they're ultimately immoral. These experiences have left him hardened against corruption, and he takes a more decisive stance on correcting the faction's embarrassing past misdeeds. He has strong Bellflower Network connections, though he would broaden his agenda considerably if made the leader of Liberty's Edge.

Voting

Voting begins now! Let us know which of these two candidates should step up to lead the Liberty's Edge faction in Major Colson Maldris's absence. You'll have three weeks to pick your favorite candidate, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday, December 13. Our plan is to feature both of these characters at least once, so even the candidate that doesn't receive the most votes will still play a role in a future scenario. We're also looking forward to pursuing more of the Liberty's Edge storyline later in Season 9, discovering just what Maldris has set in motion!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead 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

Disparate Elements, Epic Stories

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

While we're excited for the launch of so many new adventures at Gen Con in a few more weeks, Season 8 cannot be overshadowed with its last two scenarios. Just as the Society has gathered extraordinary tools with which to crack the Untouchable Opal, so too has Season 8 brought together exciting scenarios to explore the elemental planes. Both of these adventures are fitting capstones.

If you haven't heard, in Season 8 we've been preparing to destroy a major artifact, in the process unleashing a long-imprisoned demigod. That demigod's enemies are equally immortal, and they've been none too pleased to learn about the Society's intentions. Fortunately, the Pathfinders have teamed up with an extraplanar operation known as the Concordance of Elements, and together in Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-24: Raid on the Cloudborne Keep they're poised to neutralize one of these enemies before they can become an insurmountable threat. This Tier 5-9 scenario by Sean McGowan takes the PCs on a dangerous mission of infiltration, airships, and skullduggery deep within the Plane of Air, where a recklessly ambitious elemental is assembling an army. Defy the Duchess of All Winds and bring light back to the Elemental Planes in this scenario with a special opportunity for the Silver Crusade faction.

Illustrations by Tom Ventre

Last year we launched our first exclusively seeker-level content in years with the All for Immortality series, and ever since it's been our aim to continue releasing seeker content—not necessarily in extensive series but rather as stand-alone features. For something as monumental as unleashing a demigod on where the Planes of Earth and Fire meet with tectonically unbearable heat, we knew that level 12+ adventurers would be the right choice. Season finales are difficult, and high-level content is difficult. Fortunately, we also had Robert Brookes (caught him between Aethera projects, which you should also check out) ready to tackle this challenge. He delivered. Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-25: Unleashing the Untouchable is a Tier 12-15 adventure that showcases both your powerful PCs' strengths as well as the serious ramifications that accompany any mortals' efforts to revise the setting's extended pantheon. You won't want to miss it.

As a production update for Gen Con adventures, we're making great progress. As I write this, we're running our final passes on most of the Starfinder Society adventures, which should be ready to distribute to Gen Con's Starfinder Society GMs at the end of the week. Likewise, most of our Pathfinder Society adventures are nearing completion, and we'll be delivering those to the convention's GMs next week.

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

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