August/September 2022 Organized Play Monthly Update

OPC Musings

Welcome to a joint update for August and September! After Gen Con I simply did not have the energy to write an update for August, and now it’s almost September, so we’ve combined them into one mega-update.

Speaking of which, I had an absolute blast at my first-ever Gen Con! It was fantastic getting to see so many community members coming out and enjoying our return to the Sagamore ballroom. Watching more than 50 tables run through Enter the Pallid Peak during the special was a real treat, and I returned from the weekend emotionally recharged (and physically exhausted). I’m already putting some plans into motion to improve the program and make it the best version of itself thanks to some conversations I had that weekend.

Illustration by Lucas Villalva Machado

Digital Adventure Releases

August 2022

These adventures will be available on August 31, 2022.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Boundless Wonder*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-02: Return to the Grave*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-03: Linnorm's Legacy*
Pathfinder Bounty #20: Burden in Bloodcove

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #5-06: Tarnished Legacy: Historia's Holdout*
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-07: Planar Bloom*

September 2022

These adventures will be available on September 28, 2022.

Pathfinder Societ

Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-04: To Seek the Heart of Calamity*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #5-08: Tarnished Legacy: Star Sugar Superstar!!!*

*part of a subscription

Sanctioning

Newly Sanctioned: Last month we sanctioned Dark Archive for Pathfinder Society and Redshift Rally for Starfinder Society! For Dark Archive, the Character Options are available for use, and the 8 Case File adventures have sanctioning documents on the product page. They all grant 2 XP and commensurate rewards. Redshift Rally is sanctioned for play, and its Character Options are available for use as well.

Upcoming: Lost Omens: Travel Guide sanctioning is finished and ready for a street date next week, so look for those Character Options next Wednesday! Crown of the Kobold King and the Dead Suns hardcover have both had their release dates shifted to October, but we should be on track to have them both ready on release. The Drift Crashers Adventure Path should also be sanctioned around the release of the third volume in October.

We do intend to sanction the Kingmaker Adventure Path and associated content for Pathfinder Society! However, it’s a lot of content that we have not yet started reviewing, so we can’t guarantee that sanctioning will be ready for its release at the end of October. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as we make progress.

Guide Updates

Pathfinder Adventure Card Society

That’s right, there’s a PACS update! Been a while since we had one of those. We’ve long said that we intended to release one final version of the PACS Guide to cover any lingering issues and close out the program. Well, that day is today! The Guide has been updated to its final form at this time.

Major updates include the addition of Adventurer’s Packs, the sanctioning of content published on Infinite for play, and various other changes. The Guide is available for download now!

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

While at Gen Con, I was able to award a number of additional Campaign Coins. We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay[at]paizo[dot]com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:
Chris Johnson, who now holds a Campaign Coin and Organized Play ID #858
Doug Edwards, who now holds a Campaign Coin and Organized Play ID #859
Kristin Bollerman, who now holds a Campaign Coin and Organized Play ID #860
Jim Crase, who now holds a Campaign Coin and Organized Play ID #861
Rebecca Fehn, who now holds a Campaign Coin and Organized Play ID #862
and Tim Munsie (TMun), who now holds a Campaign Coin and Organized Play ID #863

Order of the Wayfinder

In addition to the Campaign Service Coin, we also have one other award: the Order of the Wayfinder. This award is given out only once per year, and recognizes a member of the community who has provided exceptional service. Typically, we give this award to individuals who have taken on a particular project and knocked it out of the park. Previously, this award has been awarded to the head of our Additional Resources review team and our Regional Venture-Coordinator for the Online region, among others.

I am pleased to finally announce that the 2021 recipient of the Order of the Wayfinder is Barb Wilkins. Since 2018, Barb has been the one-woman show behind sending out volunteer agreements to our Venture Officers. Every year, this involves sending out literally hundreds of agreements to volunteers, ensuring that they’ve been signed and returned, and maintaining the master list of every Venture Officer worldwide. It’s a monumental task, and one that she has done for nearly four years now. Her work is undeniably vital to Organized Play, and I am delighted to have presented this award to her at Gen Con this year.

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the fifth milestone, a GM must run 150 games, which must include at least 50 unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios, as well as run between one and three games for Venture-Captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month, we had four GMs earn their 5th Star for PFS1 and two GMs earn their 5th Glyph for PFS2.

5th Star: Zackery Kuehn, Ben Tash, Christopher Waterfield, and Denis Wishnevsky
5th Glyph: Milan Badzic and Robert Bollerman

Conventions

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be attending two regional shows this October! First up, I'll be at CinCityCon in Cincinnati, Ohio from October 7–9 (that’s over Indigenous Peoples’ Day so it’s a long weekend). Tickets are on sale now at https://cincitycon.com/; the tables I'm running will be charity tickets.

I'll also be attending Scarefest in Asheville, North Carolina from October 21–23, which is just a perfect convention for a big scaredy-cat like me! Tickets are available on their website at https://avlscarefest.com/ and game signups are on their Warhorn at https://warhorn.net/events/asheville-scarefest.

I'm looking forward to getting out to see you all this fall! I've got some fun tables planned and I can't wait.

If you’re not in the neighborhood of these shows, or you’re looking for more fun closer to home or online, check out our conventions calendar! We’ve got tons of shows coming up in the home stretch of 2023 for you to check out and support.

Until next time—Explore! Report! Cooperate! And enjoy the new Year of Boundless Wonder!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator