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The Future of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Part V: The Quest

Monday, April 18, 2011

The hardest part of organizing and running Pathfinder Society events is selecting what adventures to offer on a given day. A coordinator needs to have an idea of how many players will show up, how many GMs will volunteer, what level range all participants will want and be able to play in, and most importantly, what people have and haven't played before. The sanctioning of Pathfinder Modules for Society credit was the first step in adding to coordinators' arsenals of available adventures, and last week we unveiled yet another set of material for Pathfinder Society play: Pathfinder Society Quests.

Pathfinder Society Quests are two- to three-encounter mini-adventures covering two subtiers designed to be run in under two hours. Whether you need to run them when a party moves like a greased snake through a Teflon pipe through an adventure and has a few hours to kill before the end of their scheduled slot, after poor dice rolls result in a TPK in the first half of an adventure, or as a short demo or delve event at a game store or convention, Pathfinder Society Quests scratch many itches. These short missions don't include faction missions, and provide no XP or gold, but they do come with unique item access or specialized boons. And as if that weren't enough, they can be replayed as often as you want, even with the same character.

The first Quest in the line is the Tier 1–5 adventure "Ambush in Absalom," by yours truly, which can be found in the spring issue of Kobold Quarterly (available in print or PDF here). The adventure's Chronicle can be found on the KQ #17 product page or at the bottom of the Pathfinder Society Additional Resources page. Over time, we'll release more Quests, both in other venues and on paizo.com. Eventually, Pathfinder Society Quests released elsewhere will make their way to paizo.com for all members to access. Stay tuned for more information about how you can submit your own Pathfinder Quests for inclusion in this exciting new program!

Next Monday we'll continue examining the existing five factions and what changes might be in store for them next season with a look at Cheliax, whose members are very vocal, but aren't so great at recruiting others to their cause.

Mark Moreland
Developer

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Dark Archive 1/5

Nice work in KQ Yoda Mark!

As to Cheliax not recruiting enough to our cause ... ye of little faith.
Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **
baron arem heshvaun wrote:

Nice work in KQ Yoda Mark!

As to Cheliax not recruiting enough to our cause ... ye of little faith.

After 3 years, it is not a lack of faith.. but a pattern... ;)

It also describes them very well... A lot of Bark with very little Bite..
5/5
Mark Moreland wrote:
when a party moves like a greased snake through a Teflon pipe

You know the snake wouldn't really be able to move in this circumstance, right? ;-)

Shadow Lodge 4/5
Kyle Baird wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
when a party moves like a greased snake through a Teflon pipe
You know the snake wouldn't really be able to move in this circumstance, right? ;-)

Unless they were trying to say that they flail around a lot without going anywhere.

;-)
Dark Archive

so will these be open to submissions? if so, what will be the guidelines?
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
ulgulanoth wrote:
so will these be open to submissions? if so, what will be the guidelines?

Yes, details are forthcoming. I'd hoped we could unveil them in this blog post, but the ducks refused to get in their row in time.

Dark Archive

ah well, good to know at least it is in the works

I'll have to look at the submission guidelines - the scope of a Pathfinder Society Quest might be just right for me to try out. :)
The Exchange 2/5
Kyle Baird wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
when a party moves like a greased snake through a Teflon pipe
You know the snake wouldn't really be able to move in this circumstance, right? ;-)

inclined pipe

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
LoreKeeper wrote:

I'll have to look at the submission guidelines - the scope of a Pathfinder Society Quest might be just right for me to try out. :)

The currently posted submission guidelines make no mention of Quests, but they will. So just know that they're going to be changing.

LoreKeeper wrote:
I'll have to look at the submission guidelines - the scope of a Pathfinder Society Quest might be just right for me to try out. :)

I was thinking the same thing.

Keep us posted, Mark!

Neil Shackleton ran a group of us through the Ambush yesterday. I think everyone had a good time. Short, but sweet.
Liberty's Edge 2/5

Did I miss something in all the announcements and MB posts---how does one report this---or must one?
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
Curn_Bounder wrote:
Did I miss something in all the announcements and MB posts---how does one report this---or must one?

Quests provide no Prestige and no XP, so they don't need to be reported.

Liberty's Edge 2/5
Mark Moreland wrote:
Curn_Bounder wrote:
Did I miss something in all the announcements and MB posts---how does one report this---or must one?
Quests provide no Prestige and no XP, so they don't need to be reported.

Now that is a quick response--

thanks Mark!!
Silver Crusade 5/5
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Mark Moreland wrote:
Curn_Bounder wrote:
Did I miss something in all the announcements and MB posts---how does one report this---or must one?
Quests provide no Prestige and no XP, so they don't need to be reported.

How will you know how successful the quests are as a marketing tool without them being reported?

Scarab Sages 1/5

This is fantastic. I didn't realize the adventure was of this type. I love having an 'excuse' to pickup up KQ as well.
Liberty's Edge 1/5

I am going to run a group of folks through this on Monday and I am really looking forward to seeing how it works / feels and so on.

My initial thought is that this is a cool idea for a quick hitting scenario but I would recommend changing the rewards. For example, I agree with no PA and no XP, but you may burn some consumables so maybe 25 gp per character per level would offset that. The handful of boon options are cool too.

I will report back after I have run it.
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