Greetings, players! In today’s blog we’d like to take a moment to recognize our talented freelance authors who contributed to the most recent batch of Pathfinder Society (second edition) scenarios. Some of these authors have been writing for us for years, while others saw their names in print for the very first time!
Alex Speidel
Convention and Organized Play Manager
Illustration by María Rosario Arteta Chagüi
Jacob W. Michaels (he/him)
PFS2 #6-00: Salt of the Ocean
Hi everyone, I’m Jacob W. Michaels (he/him), one of the writers of PFS Year 6’s Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-00 Salt of the Ocean, which was my first special. This was a pirate adventure, so I looked at classic pirate stories for inspiration, including Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (but so many others too; more than I can really list). I had so much fun trying to bring as many nautical and piratical references to the adventure as possible, giving players a great chance for underwater fights and thematic sailing moments—I had a blast creating pirate demons and a demonic pirate ship. I also loved delving into Pathfinder history, too, since this adventure’s background dated to the earliest days of the Society. I hope everyone got as much of a kick out of Averill Quint calling their modern Pathfinders “tomb robbers and demon worshippers” because he thinks they’re trying to loot Pathfinder property as I did. Lastly, shout out to my co-author, Rigby Bendele. This was my first time co-writing a scenario and it was smooth sailing (sorry, couldn’t resist one more nautical reference…) working with Rigby and making sure our two halves of the adventure meshed.
Hilary Moon Murphy (she/her)
PFS2 #6-05: Silver Bark, Golden Blades
Hello all, my name is Hilary Moon Murphy (aka Hmm)! One of my favorite scenarios to GM was Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-06 Lost on the Spirit Road, so of course I wanted to create a companion piece for it.
My goal was to create a truly repeatable adventure: one that would continue to surprise players no matter how many times they played it previously. Inspired by two ‘make your own dungeon’ adventures in PF1, From the Tome of Righteous Repose & Beyond the Halflight Path, I decided to have two separate dungeons, three possible bosses, and to allow GMs to put their monsters and traps anywhere on the map.
My favorite part of Silver Bark, Golden Blades was including the Risuchō, the adorable network of squirrel-rabbit mail carriers that are the primary postal service of the Forest of Spirits. Being able to showcase them made me so very happy.
If you enjoy my adventures, please look for Starfinder Society Scenario #1-10: Rites of Rekindling, which will be coming out this November! Join me for whimsy and a solar celebration on the formerly frozen planet of Lajok!
Dave Nelson
PFS2 #6-08: Upon Wheels and Rime
Greetings Pathfinders! My name is Dave Nelson, a name you've probably seen on several Pathfinder books throughout the years, but never on a Society Scenario. That changed last year, when I got tasked to write Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Upon Wheels and Rime. Starting Golarion's journey towards trains (something I've wanted the setting to have for a while) was both a big honor and tricky task for my first Scenario. However, it seems I did something right, as it is not only the most requested adventure of the year but was also nominated for an Ennie. I want to thank everyone who played and enjoyed the scenario and look forward to seeing how the development of the train progresses (hopefully on chicken legs). If you want to keep up with what I'm doing next you can follow me on BlueSky @davicthegrey.bksy.social and find an up-to-date list of my credits here: https://davicthegrey.carrd.co/ If you want more adventures from me, you can check out my first Adventure Path in the form of Pathfinder Adventure Path #218 Titanbane, which just released. See everyone again in the next one!
Illustration by Bruno Cesar Linda Zayas-Palmer (she/her)
PFS2 #6-09: The Power of Legends
Hi folks! I’m Linda Zayas-Palmer (she/her), former development manager for Paizo’s narrative team and current full-time freelancer. For Year 6, I wrote Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-09: The Power of Legends. With the release of War of Immortals on the horizon, the org play team tapped me to write an adventure to highlight the new mythic rules. I have fond memories of playing around with mythic abilities in the Destiny of the Sands series for First Edition Pathfinder Society. While Destiny of the Sands features Pathfinder agents in the middle of their careers, Power of Legends takes characters who are among the Society’s strongest and gives them reality-bending powers to strike down their foes. So naturally, the PCs needed some larger-than-life opposition. The main villain’s a doozy, but the other encounters the PCs fight all have their own mythic tricks to them too. The scenario’s runtime is longer than a typical PFS adventure, so if you’re a GM planning to throw this trial at your players, I recommend carving out an extra hour or two.
You can find me on my Youtube stream Arcane Mark on Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern and Saturdays at 1pm Eastern (https://www.youtube.com/@arcanemark2562), and on the Arcane Mark Discord (tiny.cc/arcanemark). My most recently released works are the Pathfinder Society Battle of Hellknight Hill special event that debuted at GenCon, as well as Roll For Combat’s Battlezoo Bestiary: Elemental Storm, which I developed and also wrote for.
Joseph Blomquist (he/him)
PFS2 #6-12: The Burning of Greensteeples and PFS2 #6-99: Under the Eye of the Mantis
Welcome back to the fun, friends! You’re just in time for everything to Hells with the coming season of aggression—especially from Cheliax. I’ll be your guide for … no wait… I wrote stuff!
I’m Joseph Blomquist (he/him), and you’ve seen my words in the Starfinder Galaxy Guide,Mechageddon!, a bunch of backmatter in various Pathfinder and Starfinder AP volumes, quite a few PFS and SFS adventures, and a slew of other Paizo products and games around the industry. This season, I was tapped for two very different Pathfinder Adventures.
The first, #6-12: The Buring of Greensteeples was a return to one of my favorite (and most polarizing) adventures, #3-04: The Devil-Wrought Disappearance. Shay asked if I would be interested in bookending that exploration into Varian Jeggare’s home, and I leapt at the chance. Not only did I get to wrap up some hanging storylines I set up in 3-04, but I hinted at another from #4-02 Return to the Grave, and set up a bit of the overarching theme of Season 7!
Then came #6-99: Under the Eye of the Mantis. For this GenCon special, I was paired with one of my favorite people, Michael Bramnik, and found that our styles complement each other perfectly (Good job Devs!). Mike and I wanted to give multi-table players some new experiences in PFS specials, and I think we did a great job, bringing recent storylines together while bringing back classic or forgotten NPCs. It was a ton of fun to work on.
You can find me at the blog I never update www.UnderwearOnTheOutside.com or as @Doctormono on Bluesky. Stay tuned, I have more Paizo work coming this year, and I can’t wait for you to have a chance to dive in.
Alison Cybe (they/them)
PFS2 #6-15: Lost and Forgotten
Hi there, I'm Alison Cybe (they/them, at least for as long as our benevolent UK government allows me to use such pronouns), and I designed Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-15: Lost and Forgotten.
When I designed this adventure I wanted to create a light, puzzle-oriented dungeon crawl where the tension wasn’t in whether the party survived, but in how they explored. The aim was flexibility—letting tables approach challenges at their own pace, try things in any order, and focus on interaction and creativity without feeling like they’d “failed” their way out of progress.
Some reviewers took this to mean “the rolls don’t matter.” In truth, they matter in the same way a chess move matters—you can play badly and still finish the game, but your choices shape the state of the board. Time pressure, resource attrition, and the shifting initiative bonuses in the second act were all designed to be felt cumulatively rather than ending the scenario on a single failed check. Pathfinder Society scenarios must work for a broad range of tables, so the safety net is intentional—especially in puzzle-centric adventures where a single failed roll shouldn’t brick the experience for everyone else. Likewise, the “helpful” NPC wasn’t there to take over, but to keep momentum at tables where the GM might otherwise have to stall play until someone guessed the One True Answer™. I'm truly sorry that people did not enjoy this adventure.
You can find me on Bluesky and Facebook as Alison Cybe, where I post about writing, gaming, and occasionally pictures of my cat pretending to solve riddles better than my playtest groups.
Shan Wolf
PFS2 #6-18: Symposium on a Fallen God
Hi, my name is Shan Wolf and I loved being an author on Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-18: Symposium on a Fallen God It gave me a great chance to play with aspects of the Godsrain that I hadn't even thought about, warshards! I felt inspired during the writing of this scenario by both academic debates and rap battles. The ability to use your knowledge and vocabulary to not only educate, but make fun of your opponent in a friendly manner. I was also told I could get to dig into the great rules for the exemplar class to make an enemy and I hope people found the encounter fun. I'd also like to take this opportunity to offer a heartfelt thank you to our wonderful Pathfinder Society Devs, as I'm extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to write adventures for everyone.
I hope those who got to play the scenario had a blast, and thank you all.
To learn more about me, you can find me at shanwolf.bsky.social where you'll see me muse about various things but mostly social justice topics and how they relate to the world.
Scott Young (he/him)
PFS2 #6-19: What Walks Again
I'm Scott D. Young, from Winnipeg, Canada, Paizo contributor and proud father of two amazing teens and one orange cat. My most recent scenario for Pathfinder Society was #6-19, What Walks Again. What a treat to be able to bring back the evil mastermind of a previous Adventure Path, long thought dead. I love being able to work with characters and stories that have history to work around while developing new bits of lore. Trying to create a stat block that was both evocative of the original fiend, and yet made sense with the story, was a real challenge. The Paizo freelance community is wonderful, though, and I was able to get a seasoned team of scenario authors to playtest the final combat. That, plus Shay Snow's development magic, and a storied NPC behind the scenes make for a final encounter that I hope will be memorable.
Coming in September, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-06Magic in the Mist is my first scenario of Starfinder Second Edition, and I'm really looking forward to doing more in the Starfinder Universe in future. You can find me on Discord (gm_lamplighter) and at various online conventions throughout the year.
Hiromi Cota (they/she)
PFS2 Quest #24: Tanuki Trouble
Hai tai! Greetings, Pathfinders! I had a lot of fun crafting Tanuki Trouble, and I hope you had even half as much fun playing it! If you haven’t had the chance to play it, Tanuki Trouble is a light-hearted adventure designed for players of all ages, with everything from a raucous party to an opportunity to play matchmaker to exciting combat. As you might expect from the name, it features tanuki, one of Tian Xia’s cutest ancestries and one of my favorite creatures from Japanese folklore. Tanuki are traditionally very whimsical and fun-loving, which made having Kodomi Village embroiled in an out-of-control prank war a natural fit. It also meant that I could ask for art of a tanuki holding a pie-launching crossbow, which makes me smile every time I see it.
In other Pathfinder news, I worked on Pathfinder Lost Omens: Draconic Codex, which is due to come out in about a month. I can’t wait for GMs to introduce players to my draconic children. If you want to find out what I worked on for the book, stay tuned to my BlueSky account @hiromicota.
Meet the Authors: Pathfinder Society’s Year of Immortal Influence
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
