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I just got my AP book 3 PDF (subscriber). Looking through the RPGG, I meet all requirements to purchase a new toy out of it since I have a valid PDF and it is sanctioned, but one could make the argument that the street date is still 7 days away. Is this argument substantiated anywhere or just a personal opinion? This question may be fueled by a burning desire to use Spoiler: on Apostae (1-06) tomorrow night... necro grenades
Let me try my hand at a Culture check to recall knowledge about other icons of my profession (Drendel Dreng). I wouldn't want to take a penalty for following a failed Diplomacy check... If Aspus agents can suck Aram Zey's soul into a lantern, then I propose that the Pathfinder Society suck Drendel Dreng's soul into a wine-soaked wayfinder, where it is handed down from generation to generation until the Pathfinder Society eventually branches into space. At this point, his soul could be transferred to an android, becoming the first android to become more than a robot, but actually having a soul, where continues to live out a long a fruitful android life, filled with cabbage-smelling space wine adventures. Nearing the end of his second life, realizing his importance to the society, his consciousness is transferred to a computer, the first in a long line of succession to do so. Given the tremendous amount of help this machine of many consciousnesses provides over the years, it is eventually and appropriately named Guidance. 19 on the die (legitimately rolled that after burning a GM nova re-roll on a 6)
for a 39 Culture check against a DC-5 for this particular check as an Icon. Given that Drendel Dreng is rare and probably CR 20. 15 + (1.5 * 20) = DC 45. I have me at a 39 vs DC 40. It's too bad you can't Aid Another on a Recall Knowledge. Can I get a GM point for creativity?
Stranger Beings
We thought angels and devils should be represented, but we could only have one of each. Can't forget IDCHOPPERS! "Here Skitter-skitter-skittermanders...."<brum-brum-brum-brum-brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr>
That is also my guess. I think the early to mid November site fix is their top priority and Society play has taken a back burner to that, although I don't think knocking that out at the beginning of the day before resuming work on the site would be much of a challenge given that the end result is to update the text on the AR page, replace the PDF with the new one, replace the existing rules PDF for the AP. They could even wait to add it to the second AP page and just settle it with an official post here until the site catches up. Replacing 2 PDFs and updating the text on one page shouldn't take more than a few minutes and shouldn't complicate issues, unless they are working on a site backup that they are modifying then planning to publish, which would overwrite and undo this. In which case, we're waiting, but that wouldn't prevent legalization. A third possibility would be that the OP Team make a post, attach download to the post with the updated AP rules (i.e. second Chronicle sheet added to it) sheet and a copy/paste of the AR text. Make it official until the web team catches up. This way the entire OP community is subject to delays based on technical difficulties. The post can then be updated as expired, retracted, whatever once the web team has time to catch up. Everybody wins in that situation and shows that Paizo is willing to be flexible and work with the community to overcome the Stigma of Pathfinder's notorious delays, rather than having a justification for the status quo.
My guess is the AR is going to include both AA and Dead Suns AP book 2. I know that Thursty has said it's been sent, so I assume it is completed. I think we're just waiting on it to make it to the top of the web team's "to-do" list so that we can use it. Damoritosh knows, I need some Boots of Trampling from AA and Grim Trophies from T12.
Zo!
It's certainly a challenging balance to achieve. On end of the spectrum, you have players who are limited to one weekly session of SF, Society or not. Those players, by virtue of how most play at venues is done, are limited to Society content. Being one of those players, it sucks when you get to live out a cool story like a book, but then get told sorry, we're only going to do the odd numbered chapters of the book. That's enough for you to get the gist. As a 40hr/week employee who travels for work, a 12 semester hour college student and a "soccer dad" running his daughters to cheer, gymnastics, piano and 7 different therapists every week, I fit this category. I make 4 weekly games and 1 monthly game each month (which I mostly GM prep for) in the St. Louis stores. I fit into this category. On the other end of the spectrum, you have some gamers with no significant other, no children and few extra-curricular activities who are able to play a home game and society game every week. Most people are probably somewhere in-between. While I have no delusions that as a player limited to Society only play (also by virtue of the fact that there are few coworkers that I could even dare bring up my gaming hobby too while maintain some semblance of promotability) that I will get to experience every shred of SF content, I am grateful that it is far from Pathfinder's established norm of publishing content that will probably never see PFS (i.e. Strange Aeons) in any significant quantity. I am grateful that I have the option of spending money supporting a system that supports content that all of it's players can enjoy, without dividing the player base into those who can and those who can't. So thank you , Paizo for providing me the opportunity to experience the Dead Suns AP without having to eliminate half or even a quarter of your content, just to be afforded the option to play it.
The current offerings have some balance issues that need to be fixed in future scenarios. I’m going to have to disagree with you. If you take a PF AP and crop it down to only the Society sanctioned content, then they are comparable. I like that I get to play 100% of the books, completely sanctioned, without caveat. I hope they don’t change it and add all this new content that isn’t Society legal. I say keep the APs at 3 4-hour completely Society legal tables. They got this one right.
I know this may sound silly, but Lau is onto something. I love showing pictures of the NPCs faces to my tables as well. I would love to see an appendix with significant NPC photos and bios, with only 1 per page (to avoid accidental spoilers of upcoming interactions) of non-monster story NPC's in one appendix and monsters (including story-centric) in a second appendix. It's always nice to be able to put a face to a name and maybe get some background on why your character might know who that is. In PFS terms (God I cringe at having to pull a PFS reference in), when I started as a new player, I didn't know who Torch or Drendel Dreng or Aspis Consortium were, but I wanted to. One of my first scenarios, Destiny of the Sands, part 1, I asked the GM why I care about who certain entities are and it took them by surprise. They also had to sort of compose a brief, but logical background on the fly for me. Since I started GMing, I have asked myself, why doesn't Paizo include this stuff in the scenario instead of writing only for a long-term player base? If they're important, give the GMs enough background that 4 years from now, when someone is playing a season 1 scenario for the first time. the 1 year experience GM can give a reasonable description of who Luwazi Elsebo is, what she did for the Society and why we should help this rebel outcast who wants a limited edition copy of Strawberry Machine Cake's live album, "Star Sugar Heartlove with Sprinkles."
You really assume it's going to take THAT long to get more Strawberry Machine Cake content? Oh, you sweet sweet fans... Strawberry Machine Cake is my Wheel of Time and you are my Robert Jordan. I wait in eager anticipation for each scenario, hoping for the next SMC plot twist or continuation.
I do believe this would allow a player to assign the same chronicle sheet for an adventure twice; once for GMing with full rewards and again with only the Fame/Rep reward. That's actually how I read it. Forgoing the evergreen complication to this for a minute, let's assume you play 1-04 on your -701, then GM 1-04 with credit to your -702. Now you get ready to GM 1-04 again, because it's just awesome and more people want to play it. Now you could trigger the boon and collect a 1 rep/fame 0 reward chronicle to apply to it to a DIFFERENT character who has the Theoretical Historian boon, such as your -703 or -704. You would have three copies of the chronicle, but only receive player credit once and GM credit once. The third sheet is just a 1 fame/rep boost for an Exo-Guardian.
I don't know, but season 3 better have a 3-00. 3-14, the 15th scenario of the season should contain 9 flavors of pi to be "flung" by 26 contestants, observed by 5 judges and cost 35 credits to enter. That would be a 10 in my book.
Ok, so I'm sitting here pondering Strawberry Machine Cake. Is it cake from a Strawberry machine? Is it machine cake with strawberry flavor? If so, what is machine cake? Then it occurred to me! What if SMC ARE "The Machine"? SMC could be an ongoing project designed to "feed" us a particular "flavor" of subliminal message through the influence of pop-culture! SMC are brainwashing your children into becoming slaves of a soon-to-come invasion, that they will welcome with open arms! Strawberry Machine Cake must be stopped! The Starfinder Society cannot let this mental and emotional slavery to an unidentified threat continue! We must eliminate Strawberry Machine Cake for the sake of the our children, our society and the Pact Worlds as a whole! #flatgolarian #caketrails
My apologies if this is a repeat post. I didn't see it in my brief search. With regard to GM Novas for SFS, I see three different things, depending on where I go on the site. - When I click on "My Pathfinder Society", it says I am a five nova GM.
Grimdark *and* Strawberry Machine Cake? Consider this mind blown! So is George R.R. Martin. Wait....If you kill off Strawberry Machine Cake.....NOOOOOO!! YOU MONSTERS!!!!
Second fame = second rep. There is no skill check to gain the third point of rep. They get 1 point or 3 points total. Only 2 points is not possible. Source: Spoiler: FACTION NOTES If the PCs completed the secondary success conditions, they impress the Wayfinders faction. Each PC earns 1 additional Reputation with the Wayfinders faction, in addition to any other Reputation earned as a result of completing this scenario.
I agree with your timeline and justification, and its what I've been posting places when people ask as well. I will say that I think for convention sake its probably easiest to say 1-02 then 1-03 for people who ask play order even though as you, imo, correctly state its ambiguous which occurs first. I agree with you 100%. I normally do that. Here, however, I wanted to show everything with clear justification first and leave ambiguity for the end.
Timeline listed in the order in which I believe the events (scenarios and AP) take place, with Justification. 99% spoilers. Also bear in mind that there is no guarantee that any one PC could play all adventures in order for credit. Specifically, just because I believe the quest comes after the AP even though one character could not play it that way does not necessarily invalidate the rationale. SFS is likely to have events across the timeline that no one character could play all of and I think most would recognize that as a physical reality of the system. It would otherwise also prevent backstory scenarios from existing. Without further delay, my timeline interpretation with justifications. 1) 1-00: Claim to Salvation Spoiler:
1-00 is run by random mercenaries hired before the society could rebuild. This takes just a few months after the Scoured Stars incident. Probably before your level 1 is even in training. This is NOT your PC. Yes your PC gets credit at level 4 (not 3 according to RPGG at the time of this posting, but that's a tangential discussion about how this is not PFS) or level 1, but receiving credit is not the same thing as having physically been there. Justification:1-00: Claim to Salvation pg. 4, Pregenerated characters states
This is a flashback, whereas the rest of the adventures take place in the present. You just get credit for a level 4 flashback. It is definitively the first scenario in the timeline.
2) Dead Suns Adventure Path: Incident at Absalom Station Spoiler:
The whole premise of this book is that you are on your way to join the Society but some stuff goes down and your contact in the Society gets murdered in a gang shootout. You then go on a mission for the society as mercenaries. The Scoured Stars incident is referenced as a past event. This could technically mean it takes place before or after 1-00: Claim to Salvation, but given that before bringing in recruits Luwazi Elsibo used mercenaries, I believe this is the PCs doing work and deciding to join the Society, thus being right before The Commencement. 3) 1-01: The Commencement Spoiler:
This takes place immediately after graduation of the first wave of new recruits. This means you could not have been a society member prior to this scenario and thus takes place prior to any scenario referencing you as a society member.
Justification:1-01: The Commencement, pg. 3 para 3 last sentence through para 4 second sentence states:
The first sentence of the section Getting Started on page 3 also indicates that the scenario takes place immediately after the aforementioned graduation. 4) Quest 1-1: Into the Unknown Spoiler:
This scenario is interesting in a few ways.
1) The Unbounded Wayfarer (the ship you eventually discover) was launched by the Society before the Scoured Stars incident. It also managed to discover Elytrio (more on this in 1-03 justification) before being chased off by its orbital defense system. 2) You are given information generally not provided to non-society members about Starfinder Insignias, then granted a boon which reinforces the fact that this generally isn't known outside of the society. Any new member of a society would be unlikely to know all of that society's secrets early on. It is likely that they never had time to learn this after graduation or The Commencement and are just now being entrusted with this information because they are, in fact, Starfinder Society members. 3) At no time are the PCs encouraged to join the Society after successfully completing a mission for them. 4) Captain Arvin states that he intends to "put you back to work". With the absence of indication that the PCs are mercenaries under a long-term contract with the Society, he would have no authority to put them back to work unless the PCs were Starfinders.
5.x) 1-03: Yesteryear's Truth Spoiler:
This adventure takes place sometime AFTER the quest. [u]Justification:[/u]1-03: Yesteryear's Truth, pg. 3 second to last para states:
This scenario takes place on Elytrio and the PCs encounter this same orbital defense system. 5.x)1-02: Fugitive on the Red Planet Spoiler:
This scenario has no definitive timeline data other than to say that you are already a Starfinder Society member, although I do have a hypothesis. This means it could take place anytime after The Commencement. If you want to get picky, you could use Captain Arvin's introduction to make a case that the PCs have run missions (plural) and thus takes place after two missions or more. This scenario also implies membership in the Society in a few places. This would be AFTER The Commencement takes place. Given the familiarity Captain Arvin seems to have with the PCs and referencing past work in a generic sense, it seems likely that the PCs would know what an insignia is by now, taking place after the Quest. The only thing completely ambiguous is wether this mission takes place before or after 1-03. If you disagree, please provide your justifications, because I'd love to hear them. Thursty, feel free to just set the record straight because I'd rather know than hypothesize, as much fun as it is. |
