Faction Journal Cards

I'd say the faction cards do one thing incredibly well that has always been a bit difficult, and that is deciding which faction to place a PC into. I put one rather generic PC into the grand lodge, but after one mission with an influential member of the exchange, and seeing what as on the exchange card in terms of goals, I immediately changed him over to that faction.

On the same token, my Dark Archive wizard has never felt more at home than he does now that he has actual goals to do on all those older core missions.

The new Dark Archive is great, the Chelish elements aren't really there though - its really now just a fantastic choice for arcane casters, but not sure who else would join. I can see a few of the 'sponsor a player to your faction' being ticked over the next while as people faction swap.

Blackfoot wrote:

On the Liberty's Edge Card the second task reads:

Quote:

Adventure in two of the following locations: Andoran, Cheliax, Okeno, Numeria, or the River Kingdoms.

There are 2 boxes there..

Does this mean adventure in 2 of these places twice or 1 of these places once and 1 of these places another time?

IE... I go on a Mission to Andoran... do I check a box? Or only if I go on a mission to Andoran and Cheliax (or some other combo of places)

I'm not sure I've seen too many scenarios with that much travel in them... so I'm wondering. The two boxes 'seem' to represent the two places.. but it could also be read the other way.

I'm pretty certain it's one location once and another location once. It seems to me to work like the Grand Lodge objective, only with fewer boxes (and without the ability to check off a second box).

Yes, that Liberty's Edge faction goal has one box for the first adventure in one of those locations and a second box for the second visit to such a location. You don't have to travel to both in the course of a single adventure.

UndeadMitch wrote:

Blackfoot wrote:

On the Liberty's Edge Card the second task reads:

Quote:

Adventure in two of the following locations: Andoran, Cheliax, Okeno, Numeria, or the River Kingdoms.

There are 2 boxes there..

Does this mean adventure in 2 of these places twice or 1 of these places once and 1 of these places another time?

IE... I go on a Mission to Andoran... do I check a box? Or only if I go on a mission to Andoran and Cheliax (or some other combo of places)

I'm not sure I've seen too many scenarios with that much travel in them... so I'm wondering. The two boxes 'seem' to represent the two places.. but it could also be read the other way.

I'm pretty certain it's one location once and another location once. It seems to me to work like the Grand Lodge objective, only with fewer boxes (and without the ability to check off a second box).

Yes, that Liberty's Edge faction goal has one box for the first adventure in one of those locations and a second box for the second visit to such a location. You don't have to travel to both in the course of a single adventure.

But if you travel to the River Kingdoms in two different scenarios, do you get to check of both boxes, or can you only use River Kingdoms once on that card?

The new Dark Archive is great, the Chelish elements aren't really there though - its really now just a fantastic choice for arcane casters, but not sure who else would join. I can see a few of the 'sponsor a player to your faction' being ticked over the next while as people faction swap.

while it is possible that players may be using the "sponsor a character" option - I'm going to bet more people will just use the free faction change the season.

which makes me wonder - how many people have seen someone wanting to use the "free faction change for season 6" on a PC that started AFTER the start to the season?

I kind of wish the SPONSOR could pay part (or all) of the cost for a PC switching. you know, kind of like:

"I am calling in a few favors and putting my reputation on the line by sponsoring you Magot! Don't mess up and make me look bad for recruiting you!"

I like the journal cards.

Its a nice group of side missions/quests for a character. Similar to the old faction missions yet it comes with a nice perk as listed by the journal card based on how many objectives you complete.

I have a Scarab Sage who already has one of the objectives completed after their first scenario.

The benefits aren't overpowered but they aren't too miniscule either.

For what it's worth, the Society needs Torch confirmed as permanently dead.

FTFY.

** spoiler omitted **

I'd like to suggest a layout tweak for season 7: lines to fill in stuff.

If you have to recover named texts, then lines to fill in the names of those texts. If you have to visit foreign lands, lines to fill in those lands.

Also, a line to fill in the character's name. And the season number.

---

I like nosig's idea: when sponsoring someone to join your faction, you could be the one to pay the (reduced) switch cost.

In addition, don't these cards kind of cause faction lock-in? By the time someone is level 3, he may have scored some goals in his old faction, so that makes it much less enticing to switch.

I mean, it makes sense that you don't progress on your old faction's goals anymore, but actually losing benefits is annoying. Especially when new cards come out with new seasons, I think the lock-in will chafe more.

I'm not sure what the solution should be, but I do see an issue here.

---

That said, I'm enjoying playing with these.

I mean, it makes sense that you don't progress on your old faction's goals anymore, but actually losing benefits is annoying. Especially when new cards come out with new seasons, I think the lock-in will chafe more.

I'm not sure what the solution should be, but I do see an issue here.

We're quite a ways off from it still, but if/when new cards come out for Season 7, it would be nice if there were an option to transfer checks from these cards to the new ones. Obviously, that would only make sense if the goals were the same, but I'd imagine that the majority of the goals will be the same as they are now, with potentially a couple swapped out.

Ascalaphus wrote:

I mean, it makes sense that you don't progress on your old faction's goals anymore, but actually losing benefits is annoying. Especially when new cards come out with new seasons, I think the lock-in will chafe more.

I'm not sure what the solution should be, but I do see an issue here.

We're quite a ways off from it still, but if/when new cards come out for Season 7, it would be nice if there were an option to transfer checks from these cards to the new ones. Obviously, that would only make sense if the goals were the same, but I'd imagine that the majority of the goals will be the same as they are now, with potentially a couple swapped out.

Since the current guidelines say you can work on a "grandfathered" card from a previous season as well as on a new one, I think we should want no overlap in goals. Otherwise you'd have to choose which card to checkmark a goal on.

I would guess we'll have to choose anyway. I could be wrong, but I don't foresee them letting us check a box on each card in one session. I'm guessing it'll stay one check box per session.

I'd like to suggest a layout tweak for season 7: lines to fill in stuff.

We've been making notes on the Chronicle sheet as well, to give more details - there's lots of space on that in most cases, and it almost always has a blank side. I think the cards will become too unwieldy if there are spaces for each box.

Maybe it should just be a Chronicle-sized format in future, since that way it will fit in the same system used to keep the rest of the PC's sheets (3-hole binder, sheet protector, etc).

John Compton wrote:

UndeadMitch wrote:

Blackfoot wrote:

On the Liberty's Edge Card the second task reads:

Quote:

Adventure in two of the following locations: Andoran, Cheliax, Okeno, Numeria, or the River Kingdoms.

There are 2 boxes there..

Does this mean adventure in 2 of these places twice or 1 of these places once and 1 of these places another time?

IE... I go on a Mission to Andoran... do I check a box? Or only if I go on a mission to Andoran and Cheliax (or some other combo of places)

I'm not sure I've seen too many scenarios with that much travel in them... so I'm wondering. The two boxes 'seem' to represent the two places.. but it could also be read the other way.

I'm pretty certain it's one location once and another location once. It seems to me to work like the Grand Lodge objective, only with fewer boxes (and without the ability to check off a second box).

Yes, that Liberty's Edge faction goal has one box for the first adventure in one of those locations and a second box for the second visit to such a location. You don't have to travel to both in the course of a single adventure.

But if you travel to the River Kingdoms in two different scenarios, do you get to check of both boxes, or can you only use River Kingdoms once on that card?

I'm guessing since it says 'two of the following locations' that it means 2 rather than 1 twice.

My printer does not like the pdf. Are there any plans for a black and white printer friendly version?

+1 to this. My monochrome ink jet printer did not like these.

John Compton wrote:

To clarify this point further, it requires the recovery of an object that is actually an artifact-level magic item (i.e. A minor artifact or major artifact); just recovering a flashy magic item MacGuffin is not sufficient.

Are the Sky Key components artifact-level magic items?

^This.

RyanH wrote:

I like how these will add some faction theme back into the modules.

In Dark Archive it says, "Recruit a named NPC scholar, knowledgeable spellcaster, or similar figure to the Dark Archive. Recruitment requires a Diplomacy or Knowledge (arcana) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level."

Should that be "... with a DC equal to 15 plus the NPC's character level."?

If not, why would it be harder for me to recruit someone as I advance in level?

The most important reason is that it's easy to figure out what your character's level is, but it's not always clear what level an NPC is. After all, NPCs not intended as combat threats rarely have their level printed in the scenario (or printed anywhere, for that matter), so basing this on the NPC's level would result in massive discrepancies in the skill check's DC on a table-by-table basis.

Personally I would have made this 1/2 HD (rounded up) instead of full HD. Just seems more fair.

Iff wrote:

Can I use these cards when playing a pregenerated character? I seem to remember that all premades are considered part of the Grand Lodge. Does that mean I can only work towards those goals and apply the credit to my own character if my own character is part of the Grand Lodge as well?

For an example: I'll be playing my first PFS game this week. I have a 1st level character made (allied with the Exchange), but I won't play her yet. Instead, I'll play Kyra. How would this work in terms of these new factions cards?

No. You have to play your actual character to check off a box for your character's faction.

How literal are we talking here? For clarification sake this could then mean you can not use the cards if you do any of the three Goblin adventures (Goblins Free comes out in June), the Silverhex Chronicles and other future quest releases, or any adventure that your current lower level character can't play (ie. a level 3 player having to use a level 7 pregen for 5-9 scenario because that's all that's available)? Would that not be overruled if you already have a character, you just can't use it for that scenario? Much like how an AP character works.

Also, how far back can these cards be used? They came out last week, and I've GMed five games over the past three weeks? Can I check off any? Do GMs get credit for scenarios that use pregens?

Above it says, several times, no retroactive checking off. It also says you have to play your own character, so yes, that means Goblins and pre-gen quests don't count. This isn't meant to be a mechanical number bonus-type thing, it's a roleplay-immersion "make the factions relevant to your character again" thing. That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

Okay, then where's the line drawn on GMs? When do and don't they get a check mark when it comes to scenarios and APs?

GM Lamplighter wrote:

That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

Okay, then where's the line drawn on GMs? When do and don't they get a check mark when it comes to scenarios and APs?

A GM can check off a box when he or she runs a game for which he or she gets a Chronicle Sheet for his or her character. If the GM is running a scenario and gets credit for it and thus applies that chronicle to a character, he or she can check off a box. If a GM is running a scenario and does not get credit for it (say, because he or she has already run that scenario once for credit), then he or she does not get a chronicle sheet, and therefore may not check off a box.

As the blog posting reads:
"I am the GM more often than I play. Do these cards offer me anything?
Yes, there is a special faction goal that appears on each card and rewards a participant when she is the GM and applies the Chronicle sheet to that character. To get the full benefits of the card, you'll still need to play, but at least you're not missing important opportunities by applying GM credit to a character."

As John later says:
"When you apply GM credit to a character, you can check one of the final objective's five check boxes for that character."

A GM can check off a box when he or she runs a game for which he or she gets a Chronicle Sheet for his or her character. If the GM is running a scenario and gets credit for it and thus applies that chronicle to a character, he or she can check off a box. If a GM is running a scenario and does not get credit for it (say, because he or she has already run that scenario once for credit), then he or she does not get a chronicle sheet, and therefore may not check off a box.

As the blog posting reads:
"I am the GM more often than I play. Do these cards offer me anything?
Yes, there is a special faction goal that appears on each card and rewards a participant when she is the GM and applies the Chronicle sheet to that character. To get the full benefits of the card, you'll still need to play, but at least you're not missing important opportunities by applying GM credit to a character."

As John later says:
"When you apply GM credit to a character, you can check one of the final objective's five check boxes for that character."

Okay, so based off of that then, just for clarification, even if it's a scenario like We Be Goblins, players don't get anything, but GMs do?

Mark Stratton wrote:

A GM can check off a box when he or she runs a game for which he or she gets a Chronicle Sheet for his or her character. If the GM is running a scenario and gets credit for it and thus applies that chronicle to a character, he or she can check off a box. If a GM is running a scenario and does not get credit for it (say, because he or she has already run that scenario once for credit), then he or she does not get a chronicle sheet, and therefore may not check off a box.

As the blog posting reads:
"I am the GM more often than I play. Do these cards offer me anything?
Yes, there is a special faction goal that appears on each card and rewards a participant when she is the GM and applies the Chronicle sheet to that character. To get the full benefits of the card, you'll still need to play, but at least you're not missing important opportunities by applying GM credit to a character."

As John later says:
"When you apply GM credit to a character, you can check one of the final objective's five check boxes for that character."

Okay, so based off of that then, just for clarification, even if it's a scenario like We Be Goblins, players don't get anything, but GMs do?

Pretty much, but to be honest, since a that adventure can end pretty quickly in an explosion ...

Above it says, several times, no retroactive checking off. It also says you have to play your own character, so yes, that means Goblins and pre-gen quests don't count. This isn't meant to be a mechanical number bonus-type thing, it's a roleplay-immersion "make the factions relevant to your character again" thing. That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

I believe that Mike Brock indicated (See here) that playing in Campaign mode does allow for boxes to be checked. The same logic as to why the PFS PC receives the chronicle sheet applies to the Faction Journal card.

I would take that to mean that adventures that require you to play pregens (We Be Goblins!, We Be Goblin Too!, We Be Goblins Free!, Serpents Rise, True Dragons of Absalom, etc.) would get get the same consideration. The catch is that the character being played would have to meet the requirement to earn the check box. I think that this would be true but I have not seen it explicitly expressed.

GM Lamplighter wrote:

Above it says, several times, no retroactive checking off. It also says you have to play your own character, so yes, that means Goblins and pre-gen quests don't count. This isn't meant to be a mechanical number bonus-type thing, it's a roleplay-immersion "make the factions relevant to your character again" thing. That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

I believe that Mike Brock indicated (See here) that playing in Campaign mode does allow for boxes to be checked. The same logic as to why the PFS PC receives the chronicle sheet applies to the Faction Journal card.

I would take that to mean that adventures that require you to play pregens (We Be Goblins!, We Be Goblin Too!, We Be Goblins Free!, Serpents Rise, True Dragons of Absalom, etc.) would get get the same consideration. The catch is that the character being played would have to meet the requirement to earn the check box. I think that this would be true but I have not seen it explicitly expressed.

This feels kinda wrong, and some of those checkboxes should be downright impossible. The Aspis agent should not be able to make that Diplomacy check to recruit an NPC to the Dark Archive ...

Above it says, several times, no retroactive checking off. It also says you have to play your own character, so yes, that means Goblins and pre-gen quests don't count. This isn't meant to be a mechanical number bonus-type thing, it's a roleplay-immersion "make the factions relevant to your character again" thing. That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

Agree with you, *except* that either John or Mike did say earlier in this thread that you *could* check a box when playing Silverhex Chronicles.

This feels kinda wrong, and some of those checkboxes should be downright impossible. The Aspis agent should not be able to make that Diplomacy check to recruit an NPC to the Dark Archive ...

I agree some would be impossible to check off. This would be a situation where the character being played would not be able to accomplish that goal. As they are not a member of the Pathfinder Society, or one of its factions, they would have no interest or ability to recruit someone to join.

Agree with you, *except* that either John or Mike did say earlier in this thread that you *could* check a box when playing Silverhex Chronicles.

Mike said it in the context that the Silver Hex Chronicles is really a 6-part adventure and that you could receive 1 check box for playing/running the whole thing. (Again you play a pregen for this.)

John said that the 1 XP rule was there to prevent someone for checking a box per each quest played.

GM Lamplighter wrote:

Above it says, several times, no retroactive checking off. It also says you have to play your own character, so yes, that means Goblins and pre-gen quests don't count. This isn't meant to be a mechanical number bonus-type thing, it's a roleplay-immersion "make the factions relevant to your character again" thing. That means, if the character in question doesn't play, you don't get a check.

Agree with you, *except* that either John or Mike did say earlier in this thread that you *could* check a box when playing Silverhex Chronicles.

a link to this would answer a lot of questions... like was it John or Mike? What EXACTLY did they say? etc.

Please, could someone link to the statement (or statements) mentioned above?

thank you in advance!

Please, could someone link to the statement (or statements) mentioned above?

thank you in advance!

Hey nosig, if you go to the top of the thread there's a search this thread box. typing in "Silverhex" gives this as the top reply.

This post may also be of use.

The quote regarding needing to play your own character is in regards to using a pregen.

So there's a bit of confusion.

Thanks Pirate Rob!

Lets go with this one though, as being the most straightforward about Silverhex.

Ellias Aubec wrote:

Per mentioning about the Silverhex Chronicles, can you tick off a box once you play enough of them to get 1XP on the chronicle sheet? If so, could you look at any of the quests you did to tick a box, or only the last one you completed? If the last one, can you hold off until you complete a quest that matches one of your goals even if you got sufficient for XP earlier on?

Yes, as per the instructions on the first page of the PDF, as long as you earn 1XP and a Chronicle sheet, you may apply it. Also, since Silverhex is six short adventures that form one full adventure, I don't have a problem with the player deciding which one box to check from the assortment of adventures just completed.

Michael Brock wrote:

DubiousYak wrote:

For Dark Archive, is it safe to assume that an artifact is any magic item we are assigned to procure but don't actually get to keep? This happens a lot in PFS Scenarios and I'm not sure which ones are actually artifacts.

Yes

To clarify this point further, it requires the recovery of an object that is actually an artifact-level magic item (i.e. A minor artifact or major artifact); just recovering a flashy magic item MacGuffin is not sufficient.

Okay John so what makes an item qualify as a Major or Minor Artifact?

On a related note what makes a Text a "Named Text"?
That it appears in the adventure with a name attached to it.
Or does it need to appear on the Chronicle Sheet with a name.
For example party defeats monsters and find a book listed as "John Compton's journal" is that a Named Text?

My reading of "Named Text" parallel's the evaluation of what is a Named NPC. Simply anything that is a text/book/journal ... that has a Specific Name attached to it. A scroll of Read Magic would not be be a named text because it has no name.

If you GM a game and assign the chronicle to a character that doesn't yet qualify to receive the chronicle (giving a 5-9 chronicle to a level 3 character, for example), do you check the GM checkbox immediately or when the character reaches 5th level and actually applies the chronicle?

If you GM a game and assign the chronicle to a character that doesn't yet qualify to receive the chronicle (giving a 5-9 chronicle to a level 3 character, for example), do you check the GM checkbox immediately or when the character reaches 5th level and actually applies the chronicle?

The answer appears to be yes. See Mike Brock's post here.

Alex McGuire wrote:

If you GM a game and assign the chronicle to a character that doesn't yet qualify to receive the chronicle (giving a 5-9 chronicle to a level 3 character, for example), do you check the GM checkbox immediately or when the character reaches 5th level and actually applies the chronicle?

The answer appears to be yes. See Mike Brock's post here.

Thanks!

Streamwalker wrote:

Faction Cards wrote:

Spend at least 100 gp per character level on spellcasting services for spells with the healing descriptor for another PC. You

may instead purchase and expend material components or a single-use magic item that costs the same amount for that PC.

If I buy, for example, Potion of Cure Serious Wounds (750 gp) and give it to someone else, does it count for this goal?

It sure does!

Presuming you are 7th level or lower, right?

After GMing with these around, I'll echo previous sentiments- -it's nice that the onus is mainly on the players...the extent of my FJC interaction was:

SoCo Player: "Did this mission enhance the reputation of the society in the eyes of a nation/organization?"

Me: "Yes."

SoCo Player: **checks a box**

and

GL Player: "Which nation should I note?"

Me: "Either Dtang Ma or Minata."

Multiple GL Players: **check a box.**

Yeah we just took a two minute whip around the table as everyone went through the cards and asked their questions as part of post session admin. It really needs to be an 'at the end' thing as Exchange have a few contingent on making Day Job rolls.

Was a very quick and painless process and well received.

Was a very quick and painless process and well received.

Great to hear.

So far, I'm enjoying the faction cards. There's one thing that really irks me though:

(...)

You can only fulfill goals and use the earned boons if you are a member of the faction; changing factions causes you to lose any benefits of your previous faction’s card.
(...)

ADDITIONAL CARDS

The organized play campaign will release additional Faction Journal Cards to reflect each faction’s evolving goals and its ties to the current season’s objectives. A PC joining a faction can only acquire the most recent version of a faction’s card; however, a PC who has checked at least one box on the earlier faction card may still continue to fulfill its goals and earn its rewards even into the new season.

Sponsor another PC to join your faction. To fulfill this goal, that PC must then join the Dark Archive by spending only 1 Prestige Point per character level (one-third the normal cost). The PC must have at least 6 XP and at least three ranks in any combination of the following skills: Bluff, Knowledge arcana), Spellcraft, or Use Magic Device.

Changing Your Faction

With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6. After the one free faction change, if at any point you become disillusioned with your faction, you can change to a different one. The longer you have spent in service to a faction, the higher the relative cost to change to one that hasn’t seen firsthand your ability to forward their goals. Changing your faction costs a number of Prestige Points equal to 3 times your character level, but does not alter your Fame score. (Prestige Points and Fame are fully explained in Chapter 5). You retain your faction traits, if any, but lose any faction-specific Prestige Awards you have accumulated during your time with your old faction; generic Prestige Awards from Table 5–4 and Vanities (Pathfinder Society Field Guide 60) are unaffected.

What incentive can I offer someone to join my faction? He's paying prestige to do something that's free, to do me a favour.

And suppose he does mean to switch. It's in his best interest interests to do so right now, because he can then make a start on a S6 card of his new faction and get a S7 card next season. But if he's going to convert this season, he might as well do it for free.

My only shot is getting someone to switch during S7 when it turns out that my S7 faction card is much cooler than his S7 card - that way I can get a S6 goal checked off. This is twisted.

---

It's a bit late to go back and fix it now, but I think there's some things to be learned from this.

1) If we sponsor people to join, maybe we can pay the prestige fee for them instead?

2) Let people who're switching factions pay a prestige fee to leave their old faction amicably. If they choose to do so, they get to keep their old faction cards and any rewards already unlocked. They can't make further progress, but because they departed on good terms, they keep everything they already had.

I do think recruitment is a good faction goal; but the game-mechanical execution should be altered so there's less lock-in.

I'm not convinced that recruiting PCs to your faction is a good goal. Locally faction changes are practically nonexistant after level one. People make characters in the faction they want them to have. While players are checking off a lot of goals, even some difficult ones, I don't know anyone who has gotten the recruit a PC goal.

I do like the cards, but not that particular goal. Ascalaphus has some good ideas to make that goal a little better, but I still think even with those changes this particular goal is more difficult than any of the others by an order of magnitude. At least that's how it seems locally. You mileage may vary.

I'm not convinced that recruiting PCs to your faction is a good goal. Locally faction changes are practically nonexistant after level one. People make characters in the faction they want them to have. While players are checking off a lot of goals, even some difficult ones, I don't know anyone who has gotten the recruit a PC goal.

I do like the cards, but not that particular goal. Ascalaphus has some good ideas to make that goal a little better, but I still think even with those changes this particular goal is more difficult than any of the others by an order of magnitude. At least that's how it seems locally. You mileage may vary.

IT can also be RP related. Some people will burn prestige for the RP aspects.

And that's the most fun.

One thing I've noticed, is keeping track of how big the cities are. When I ran Shipyard Rats yesterday, we needed to know the population of Cassomir (thank you Pathfinder wiki!)

The way the cards are set up now, they contain 1-2 really hard goals.

Sky Key parts are quite rare, and it may require some scheming to ensure you're playing the right character during such an adventure. It's even more finicky than with a normal niche chronicle sheet. Normally when an adventure turns out to have something on the sheet that you really want on another character, you can arrange that by GMing the adventure yourself. But that's even harder with faction missions since you can't score them as a GM. So, quite a hard goal.

So since a sheet has 7 player-goals and a GM double-goal, if you're unable to fulfil one of the goals as a player (recruit, sky key, something else that's really hard), you basically have to GM to get all the rewards.

I wonder if that's by design, or just happens to work out that way?

Michael Brock wrote:

DubiousYak wrote:

For Dark Archive, is it safe to assume that an artifact is any magic item we are assigned to procure but don't actually get to keep? This happens a lot in PFS Scenarios and I'm not sure which ones are actually artifacts.

Yes

To clarify this point further, it requires the recovery of an object that is actually an artifact-level magic item (i.e. A minor artifact or major artifact); just recovering a flashy magic item MacGuffin is not sufficient.

John, what you're saying is that Mike's "Yes" means "No"?

I'm confused. That's not a clarification, that's either a correction or a contradiction.
Vaguely important because there is (at least) one 3-7 scenario where the group has to retrieve a magic item (CL 10) which can curse the user - but it's technically neither an artifact nor is it cursed...so no luck for DA there?
(I think that's vague enough so I don't need to use spoiler tags?)

If this is the case I strongly suggest adding a "retrieve an important named McGuffin" as a goal next season because it's much more likely to happen - I really feel like the DA goals are not necessarily more difficult than others, but they have less opportunities to fulfill them.

I found myself recruited by mickey the mook to join the exchange, from the grandlodge. Unfortunately the exchange had little use for a new member, and offered me no direct incentives to do so.

The way the cards are set up now, they contain 1-2 really hard goals.

Sky Key parts are quite rare, and it may require some scheming to ensure you're playing the right character during such an adventure. It's even more finicky than with a normal niche chronicle sheet. Normally when an adventure turns out to have something on the sheet that you really want on another character, you can arrange that by GMing the adventure yourself. But that's even harder with faction missions since you can't score them as a GM. So, quite a hard goal.

So since a sheet has 7 player-goals and a GM double-goal, if you're unable to fulfil one of the goals as a player (recruit, sky key, something else that's really hard), you basically have to GM to get all the rewards.

I wonder if that's by design, or just happens to work out that way?

I think it's by design. The top tier rewards can be extremely beneficial for the team.

I was initially a little perturbed by how it seems like the cards would be really hard to fill out without completing the GM task.

Now, I wonder if that was intentional. The cards give yet another incentive for people to try GMing.

John Compton wrote:

Michael Brock wrote:

DubiousYak wrote:

For Dark Archive, is it safe to assume that an artifact is any magic item we are assigned to procure but don't actually get to keep? This happens a lot in PFS Scenarios and I'm not sure which ones are actually artifacts.

Yes

To clarify this point further, it requires the recovery of an object that is actually an artifact-level magic item (i.e. A minor artifact or major artifact); just recovering a flashy magic item MacGuffin is not sufficient.

John, what you're saying is that Mike's "Yes" means "No"?

Question: Is an Artifact any magic item we retrieve? I'm not sure which ones are artifacts.
Mike: Yes.
John: To clarify, no, it has to be an artifact.

I'm confused. That's not a clarification, that's either a correction or a contradiction.
Vaguely important because there is (at least) one 3-7 scenario where the group has to retrieve a magic item (CL 10) which can curse the user - but it's technically neither an artifact nor is it cursed...so no luck for DA there?
(I think that's vague enough so I don't need to use spoiler tags?)

If this is the case I strongly suggest adding a "retrieve an important named McGuffin" as a goal next season because it's much more likely to happen - I really feel like the DA goals are not necessarily more difficult than others, but they have less opportunities to fulfill them.

The item has to be an artifact, not just any magical item.

John Compton wrote:

Michael Brock wrote:

DubiousYak wrote:

For Dark Archive, is it safe to assume that an artifact is any magic item we are assigned to procure but don't actually get to keep? This happens a lot in PFS Scenarios and I'm not sure which ones are actually artifacts.

Yes

To clarify this point further, it requires the recovery of an object that is actually an artifact-level magic item (i.e. A minor artifact or major artifact); just recovering a flashy magic item MacGuffin is not sufficient.

Okay John so what makes an item qualify as a Major or Minor Artifact?

That the adventure text somewhere refers to as an Artifact.
That is have a stat block listing it as an artifact.
That is appears on the list of Artifacts in the PRD, lists of magic items.

It should have a stat block that calls it out as a minor or major artifact, or (when there is no stat block) it is explicitly referenced as a minor or major artifact in the adventure's running text. I did a search for such entries, and I counted 10 such instances in scenarios. That does not even touch on modules and Adventure Paths, which tend to have even more.

On a related note what makes a Text a "Named Text"?

That it appears in the adventure with a name attached to it.
Or does it need to appear on the Chronicle Sheet with a name.
For example party defeats monsters and find a book listed as "John Compton's journal" is that a Named Text?

My reading of "Named Text" parallel's the evaluation of what is a Named NPC. Simply anything that is a text/book/journal ... that has a Specific Name attached to it. A scroll of Read Magic would not be be a named text because it has no name.

The named text needs to have a formal title, not just a handy phrase used to describe it. To follow your example, just finding a journal on John Compton's body and calling it "John Compton's journal" does not equate to a named text. If, however, the text bore some fancy title like "Organized for Play: An Epic Campaign," it would count.

Example Named Texts: The Seven Secrets of Xin, Lost Gospels of Tabris, The Inward-Facing Circle, Uniting the Flesh
Not Named Texts: Billy-Bob's grocery list, John's journal, a pile of notes, a logbook, a magic scroll

John Compton wrote:

To clarify this point further, it requires the recovery of an object that is actually an artifact-level magic item (i.e. A minor artifact or major artifact); just recovering a flashy magic item MacGuffin is not sufficient.

Are the Sky Key components artifact-level magic items?

The Sky Key itself is an artifact; the individual pieces are not artifacts.

Out of curiosity, does the Hao-Jin Tapestry count as an artifact, and what constitutes 'recovery'? There are more than a few adventures with, "Enter the Hao-Jin Tapestry and kick the Aspis out so that they can't use the Tapestry against us!" and "Go over to this other Pathfinder camp and secure the Hao-Jin Tapestry because the guards we sent with it were only noob nose-pickers who have failed spectacularly!" Or does recovery have to be more along the lines of, "Hey, we heard a rumor that the Ring of Awesome McAwesomesauce has resurfaced somewhere in <Generally unforgiving and extremely dangerous place>! Go and retrieve this thing, then give it to us!"

Does the artifact have to be stated out. For example what if the scenario involves recovering some sort of alter that is called an artifact, but not what it is supposed to do?

It should have a stat block that calls it out as a minor or major artifact, or (when there is no stat block) it is explicitly referenced as a minor or major artifact in the adventure's running text. I did a search for such entries, and I counted 10 such instances in scenarios. That does not even touch on modules and Adventure Paths, which tend to have even more.

I'd be interested in seeing the list... but in the interim, do you mind a PM of the ones I've found?

John Compton wrote:

It should have a stat block that calls it out as a minor or major artifact, or (when there is no stat block) it is explicitly referenced as a minor or major artifact in the adventure's running text. I did a search for such entries, and I counted 10 such instances in scenarios. That does not even touch on modules and Adventure Paths, which tend to have even more.

I'd be interested in seeing the list... but in the interim, do you mind a PM of the ones I've found?

Go for it. I'll send you mine.