We're Listening!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

There has been a lot of talk on the Pathfinder Society section of the messageboards about low-level scenarios and a potential lack thereof. Well, we're listening, and have taken steps to fix the problem. While it's too late in the game to change the release schedule for October or November, in December we will be releasing a new Tier 1–5 scenario set at Absalom's famed Blakros Museum. Existing Pathfinder Society Players will surely recognize the iconic location, previously seen in fan-favorite scenarios #5: Mists of Mwangi and #35: Voice in the Void. The Penumbra Accords, written by Guide to Absalom author and Super Genius Owen K.C. Stephens, will replace #2–11 in the release schedule, and Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained will wrap up the Tier 12 "Eyes of the Ten" adventure arc later in Season 2.

Illustration by Damian Mammoliti

Additionally, we will be releasing at least one low-level Pathfinder Society Scenario each month from now on, so you'll never run out of new material to run for seasoned and rookie Pathfinders at your local game day.

In other news, we've begun commissioning the conversion of Season 0 Pathfinder Society Scenarios from their original 3.5 rules set to the Pathfinder RPG, and will be re-releasing them in waves as they are completed. I've also assigned the first 4-star GM exclusive scenario, called The Midnight Mauler, and we expect to have it available to 4-star GMs and Venture-Captains to run exclusively for a year before it's made public.

There's a lot more in the works as well, and Hyrum and I are thrilled about the exciting new changes on the horizon. We welcome feedback from existing players and GMs, so stop by the Pathfinder Society messageboards and let us know what you think of the present state of the Society and where you'd like to see it go from here.

Mark Moreland
Developer

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Absalom Damian Mammoliti Monsters Pathfinder Society
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Dragnmoon wrote:

SNIP

I'll have an official answer tomorrow that will clarify things.

Hyrum.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Hyrum Savage wrote:
Dragnmoon wrote:

SNIP

I'll have an official answer tomorrow that will clarify things.

Hyrum.

Thank You!!!

I have really no care how you clarify things, I just would love them clarified!

Edit: In other words I am not stuck on the current rules and if you changed them I am cool with that. I just sometimes feel like the Bad guy when I clarify the current rules because not everyone likes them or agrees with me. And place to point at instead would be awesome! You can be become the Bad guy ;).

Scarab Sages 1/5

Is it possible to give more of a heads up when a scenario will retire? Like 3 months?

Grand Lodge 2/5

Masika wrote:
Is it possible to give more of a heads up when a scenario will retire? Like 3 months?

You should play as many season 0 as you can. They are 3 years old and some of them are going to be retired.

That help? :D

Grand Lodge 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic

Mark Garringer wrote:
Masika wrote:
Is it possible to give more of a heads up when a scenario will retire? Like 3 months?

You should play as many season 0 as you can. They are 3 years old and some of them are going to be retired.

That help? :D

Well, it might be better to play some of those after conversion. The ones that will be converted are the good ones and those that will be retired will be the bad ones.

So play the bad adventures first! Never mind they're either too deadly or not much fun to play, get those precious Adventure Cronicles before they get out of reach forever. ;-)

Grand Lodge 2/5

Auke Teeninga wrote:


Well, it might be better to play some of those after conversion. The ones that will be converted are the good ones and those that will be retired will be the bad ones.

So play the bad adventures first! Never mind they're either too deadly or not much fun to play, get those precious Adventure Cronicles before they get out of reach forever. ;-)

Not to be pedantic but the retired mods will be retired. The converted mods will be converted :)

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Mark Garringer wrote:
Auke Teeninga wrote:


Well, it might be better to play some of those after conversion. The ones that will be converted are the good ones and those that will be retired will be the bad ones.

So play the bad adventures first! Never mind they're either too deadly or not much fun to play, get those precious Adventure Cronicles before they get out of reach forever. ;-)

Not to be pedantic but the retired mods will be retired. The converted mods will be converted :)

Umm..is that a Change? Josh said some of the Retired Mods would be converted...

5/5

Majuba wrote:
Kyle Baird wrote:

1-7? GAH! Please please please stop those. 1-5 or 5-9 or maybe add 3-7, but please no more 1-7's!

They hardly ever scale well and are a pain to properly prepare. Yes they make it easier to muster tables, but at the expensive of a great Pathfinder experience.

While I can see the potential for this, I haven't experienced it. I have run 51 & 52 at all tiers (except the lowest for 52), and they worked beautifully each time. Only one encounter was somewhat unchallenging, and it was about the same on each tier, and still did the job of draining resources at each.

Also.. after experiencing your "Master of the Fallen Fortress", I can't believe you ever have trouble making things challenging.

Of course I don't have a problem making anything challenging. Wait til you play a tier 5-9 or 7-11 with me. No amount of goblin brains can save you then! >:)

I take issue with someone making the statement that they are easier to prep. How is that possible when there are three subtiers of tactics to prepare for instead of two? Dealing with 3rd level spells is a HUGE step up from 2nd level spells. Same with things like iterative attacks, vital strike, etc.

For me, preparing a tier 1-7 is at least 30% more effort than a tier 1-5. (maps don't change, yay for that)

Josh had made statements a few months back about how much extra development work was required for a tier 1-7 vs. 1-5. I would MUCH rather see a tier 3-7. That way the module doesn't have to account for a party of first level, first adventure characters. That HAS to be hard to develop around.

A final statement on the subject: Having run subtier 5-6, 6-7, and 7-8, it is my not-so-humble opinion that the 6-7 subtier does not hold up to appropriate challenge often enough. The 5-6 encounters (from a 5-9 scenario) are almost always more interesting and entertaining. And in the end that's what we GM's are here for, entertainment.

"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"

5/5

Doug Miles wrote:
Are there any 4-Star GMs right now? I haven't seen any.

I've seen one before. Almost got'em too! He would have looked nice mounted above my fireplace! Unfortunately, I don't have my 5-star license yet. I've had plenty of opportunity to bag one of those.

1/5

Dragnmoon wrote:
Mark Garringer wrote:
Auke Teeninga wrote:


Well, it might be better to play some of those after conversion. The ones that will be converted are the good ones and those that will be retired will be the bad ones.

So play the bad adventures first! Never mind they're either too deadly or not much fun to play, get those precious Adventure Cronicles before they get out of reach forever. ;-)

Not to be pedantic but the retired mods will be retired. The converted mods will be converted :)
Umm..is that a Change? Josh said some of the Retired Mods would be converted...

Not a recent one, no. Josh just wasn't entirely clear the first few times, especially when he thought the Retired modules would be made unavailable.

First way things were going to work: All Season 0 modules would be retired. Some would be re-released at a later date with conversion.

Second way: Modules that are meant to be converted can't be removed from the system, so will not be. Retirement then became a flag that the scenario would not be converted.

That's been the official line for months.

Grand Lodge 2/5

Chris Kenney wrote:
Dragnmoon wrote:
Umm..is that a Change? Josh said some of the Retired Mods would be converted...

Not a recent one, no. Josh just wasn't entirely clear the first few times, especially when he thought the Retired modules would be made unavailable.

First way things were going to work: All Season 0 modules would be retired. Some would be re-released at a later date with conversion.

Second way: Modules that are meant to be converted can't be removed from the system, so will not be. Retirement then became a flag that the scenario would not be converted.

That's been the official line for months.

Going back to the announcement thread I don't really see any mixed use of retired vs. converted by Josh.

Mark Moreland wrote:
There are a lot of factors that come into play in the conversion/retirement process, but none of them really belong in a public forum. The simple fact is that not all 28 scenarios from Season 0 will be updated, and that means we have to get rid of some, and that brings with it some tough choices.

This, however, from MM allows me to believe that the word 'retired' has one means and the word 'converted' has another meaning. Which, ya know...they do :)

The Exchange 5/5

Kyle Baird wrote:
Of course I don't have a problem making anything challenging. Wait til you play a tier 5-9 or 7-11 with me. No amount of goblin brains can save you then! >:)

I'm still amazed my little sorceress survived your 7-11 mod *shudder* She still has nightmares about morhgs


Dragnmoon wrote:
Umm..is that a Change? Josh said some of the Retired Mods would be converted...

Right now there are no Retired Mods on the conversion list. We don't want to waste resources on products that we're going to remove from legal play.

Hyrum.

3/5

Quote:
Of course I don't have a problem making anything challenging. Wait til you play a tier 5-9 or 7-11 with me. No amount of goblin brains can save you then! >:)

Having played at one of your 7-11 tables, I just think of you as Kevin, destroyer of pregens

The Exchange 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Tangaroa wrote:
Having played at one of your 7-11 tables, I just think of you as Kevin, destroyer of pregens

Aha! I knew I was the real Kyle. Baird will now be known as Kevin!

3/5

Sorry to disappoint you, but I meant Kyle. Sometimes I think I have borderline dyslexia :) Which is OK, cause the S.O. has dyscalculia... it makes for great comedy.

"Take a left at 37th Richards!"

"Did you mean 73rd Robbins?"

"No I said 36th Richards..."

...ad infinitum

Alizor wrote:
Tangaroa wrote:
Having played at one of your 7-11 tables, I just think of you as Kevin, destroyer of pregens
Aha! I knew I was the real Kyle. Baird will now be known as Kevin!

Liberty's Edge

Kind of off topic though there is a lot of talk about it on this thread....

What are the number of events you GM to earn a star again? Second? Etc?

The breakdown. So I can let people know up here in Alaska.

Hope it takes off. Seems to be a preference for in home games rather than the shorter scenarios but we will see.

Sean

Grand Lodge 2/5

thenorthman wrote:

What are the number of events you GM to earn a star again? Second? Etc?

The breakdown. So I can let people know up here in Alaska.

People in Alaska should read the Guide to Organized Play :)

Guide to Organized Play, pg 29 wrote:
GMs can earn up to four stars for running (and reporting) a certain number of games:

  • 10 sessions reported as GM = 1 star
  • 30 sessions reported as GM = 2 stars
  • 60 sessions reported as GM = 3 stars
  • 100 sessions reported as GM = 4 stars

Scarab Sages 1/5

Before my request was hijacked...

I think it would be good to have a reasonable turnaround time. A month or so is not reasonable.

For this excellently role modelling venture captains, not everyone one is within striking distance to get to a game or con week to week. Please be understanding of those who geography is different to yours.

Sczarni 4/5

Masika wrote:
For this excellently role modelling venture captains, not everyone one is within striking distance to get to a game or con week to week. Please be understanding of those who geography is different to yours.

I'll vote with Masika here... the first round of scenarios retired only had one I hadn't played, But I havn't played any of those retired after that except for black waters. And my favored enemy: magical beast ranger was really looking forward to playing hand of the muted god after seeing the cover... but my next game i can make is december

Lantern Lodge 4/5

Retired scenarios are still available for purchase, download and home play. It's just that after their retirement date, you won't find them run at any official game-day or convention event, and you can't gain credit for playing them with your Society character. By all means, play them if you can find someone to run them for you, just to enjoy the game. Just don't count consumables, and don't gain experience, prestige, gold, or item access from the chronicle sheet. And if your character dies, well it wasn't legal, so it must have been a dream sequence ;-)

Masika, I'd be happy to run any of these as an unofficial home game if ever you're in Melbourne and we had a table of players.

Cheers,
DarkWhite

Scarab Sages 1/5

Thanks Stephen.

I always enjoy playing at your table.

My previous reference was made at remarks by previous venture captains. Clearly if listening, please allow more time to retire scenarios.

Liberty's Edge

Mark Garringer wrote:
thenorthman wrote:

What are the number of events you GM to earn a star again? Second? Etc?

The breakdown. So I can let people know up here in Alaska.

People in Alaska should read the Guide to Organized Play :)

Guide to Organized Play, pg 29 wrote:
GMs can earn up to four stars for running (and reporting) a certain number of games:

  • 10 sessions reported as GM = 1 star
  • 30 sessions reported as GM = 2 stars
  • 60 sessions reported as GM = 3 stars
  • 100 sessions reported as GM = 4 stars

Ahhh is that were it was.... I was searching and searching on the forums here thinking that is where I saw it. I knew I saw it...but yea...

Thank you.

Sovereign Court 5/5 Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

With the announcement that a special module is available only to Venture-Captains and 4-star GMs, I'm even more dismayed that my area (Colorado) has not yet been given a Venture-Captain. Why is this?

I know the following is pretty solid fact:

1 - Colorado has nearly 100 active PFS players
2 - A PFS game can be found nearly every every day of the week somewhere in the Denver metro area.
3 - Stores who run events are filling those events with little to no difficulty.
4 - The GMs in the area are very active and willing to run games on a regular basis. I do not ever recall hearing of anyone having difficulty locating a GM for their event.
5 - The major organizers run a LOT of events, and take personal responsibility for them, making sure they are announced, well attended, well run, and reported promptly. I know that applications for Venture-Captaincy were submitted.
6 - Many players are traveling a fair distance to attend events, driving as far as from Colorado Springs to Denver, or vice versa, showing a great deal of enthusiasm.
7 - The Year of The Shadow Lodge was run at Enchanted Grounds in south metro Denver this past Saturday, with 5 full tables, and more people clamoring for space. It wasn't available in the store, or more tables would have been added.
8 - Colorado is fairly isolated from any of the areas who have been given a Venture-Captain so far, with very little interaction with areas outside the Front Range.

Knowing all this, I'd like to know what is going through the minds of Paizo's PFS staff. I, for one (out of 100) would love the opportunity to play in a special event. Your rules, and decision to not award a Venture-Captaincy, make this an unlikely event.

Any response you'd care to share?

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

We have made only our first round of Venture-Captain announcements, so if your area doesn't have one, it isn't because we don't feel one is needed or even that we don't have a candidate already lined up, just that we haven't announced one yet.

Sovereign Court 5/5 Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

Glad to hear it! Any chance you'll share when the next round is going to be?

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Drogon wrote:
Glad to hear it! Any chance you'll share when the next round is going to be?

Nope! But believe me, we won't sit on it once we're ready.

Liberty's Edge 1/5

Good News! Thanks Mark! You are always welcome to visit us in the Denver area! Genghis Con would be good! A great time for gaming in Denver and Skiing in the mountains as well.

Sovereign Court 5/5 Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

Yeesh. It's like he expects me to be patient, or something.

Thanks for the responses.

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