Tim Emrick's page

Qimok is using Downtime to check a third box for Instructor for this scenario. This Chronicle gets him to 7th.

Fare thee well, Jek! Hope you see you around again sometime!

I'm currently reading a collection of Roman dramas, three plays each by Plautus, Terence, and Seneca.

Plautus's plots will feel familiar to anyone who's seen or read Shakespeare's comedies, because he was one of the Bard's favorite authors to plunder for plots and stock characters. (For example, "The Menaechmi" is the mold for the twins separated at birth and mistaken identity gimmicks Willy loved so much.)

I've only read the first of the Terence plays so far, but it was largely more of the same. So far, the book is Interesting because I've never read any Roman plays before, but these soap opera farces aren't my usual cup of tea.

I'm looking forward much more to Seneca's plays, which just from the titles (Medea, Oedipus, Thyestes) promise something more in the Greek tragedy vein. (I'm also partial to Medea as a character because I used her to very good effect in the Greek myth solo game I ran for my wife. Her hero quickly learned to hate and fear witches--but the truly legendary ones most of all.)

I started playing D&D in the mid-80s with Basic and Expert, then AD&D 1E. As 2E, 3E, and 3.5 came out, I readily adopted each new rules set as my go-to game. But 4E failed to grab me--it was the first edition that I wasn't excited to GM. So my group and I stuck with 3.5 for about 10 years, until we finally decided to try PF 1E. Then we pretty much left D&D behind--though I did frequently convert material from my sizable D&D library to PF.

My wife and I tried out PFS sometime during the next couple years, and that soon became a large percentage of our gaming. I had mostly run homebrew campaigns up to that point, but eventually got burnt out on the amount of prep work required, so organized play let me keep scratching the GMing itch for much less work.

When Starfinder came out, it took a little time to get traction in our area, but once it did (mid/late-S1 of SFS), that became a regular part of our diet, too.

Similarly, PF 2E faced resistance from many of our local regulars (including the store owner, who was perfectly happy to host it but decided it wasn't his thing after playing a few times). But between the end of new 1E PFS material and my wife becoming a VO, 2E soon vied with 1E for our game of choice.

Somewhere along the way, we tried out D&D 5E. I enjoyed it, both as a player and GM, but it just wasn't as robust as PF1 or PF2. My kids (who were teens at the time) got into it far more, and it was definiteky their (and their friends') game of choice for a few yesrs. But then the 6E OGL fiasco soured all of us on playing more 5E, or wanting to ever try 6E.

I still play PF1, just not as much as I used to. Some of us locals who regularly GMed PF1 formed a weekly round-robin group (which went online during covid and has atayed there). We're be wrapping up our latest campaign in the next couple months, and I'm not sure if the group will continue. My wife and I also started playing in an old friend's PF1 homebrew game, but we're the two remote players in an otherwise in-person game, which can be challenging at times.

There is a lot that I like better about 1E and a lot I like better about 2E, and I'm not really sure how to articulate my reasons. I haven't yet GMed 2E, which is probably the longest that I've ever played a RPG without taking a turn as GM. But with SF2 coming out, I've decided to try running that early on, which means that--as my wife and eldest child put it--"then you can come run PF2 with us, too!"

There are still some 1E adventures that I very much want to play or run, but I can see that the end of my engagement with thst edition is looming on the horizon. Keeping two versions of two RPGs straight in your head is a lot of work, and probably not viable long-term.

Is there also a rework of the Organized Play systems in the works? A more maneuverable boon purchase system would be amazing!

This would be the single most welcome thing to happen in the parts of the Paizo site where I spend any significant amount of time, but it sounds like we will have to keep waiting a bit longer for that...

I forgot the +2 bonus to Perception we get in the complex thanks to Camily. So Qimok gets a 28!

Even if we have to adjust the armor for Borq, that's only a DC 24 engineering check for level 7 armor. Ears can easily take 10 to do that. Armor also becomes more effective against radiation at 7th level, in case that become relevant.

Qimok is pushing up against his encumbered limit, but a null-space chamber won't help him much, as it's mostly from his arsenal of weapons.

Recently I was in a Starship combat that went 9 or 10 rounds. We only had one gunner using broadside, which left everyone else with fairly obvious and repetitive actions. This actually made the turns go faster. What ended up happening was that everyone had fun gotting involved in taunting the Corpse Fleet ship to the point that the Corpse Fleet likely has wanted posters for us...

I was that gunner! :D

I will say that the PbP format did make that combat more fun than most of my in-person experiences. When there is a stricter time limit, it just feeds into the players' frustration that the combat is dragging, because it's taking time away from doing more fun stuff.

Another element to think about is the fact that, as an inquisitor, you're a divine caster. In the default setting of Golarion, that means you serve a patron god, who will have certain expectations about your behavior. Depending on the campaign, that may just mean the basic rule of staying within one alignment step of your god. But there are also sourcebooks like Inner Sea Gods that go into more detail about the tenets of the faith and the role of its priests.

[I realize that this is the 1E forum, but the entries for gods in 2E do an excellent job of summing up the god's expectations in a few Edicts and Anathema. A look at those might help you find some ideas for that list of principles that you're looking for.]

Given your character's origins, would his patron be an archdevil, or the god of his mother's church? In either case, I could see literal "law" being a core concern for him. Laws bring order, but require study to understand properly. And those who understand the laws best also know how where the loopholes are, which they can legally exploit--which could promote more order overall, or make a mockery of it, depending on the circumstances.

I played a dwarf stonelord paladin to 14th or 15th level in PFS. Easily the best AC for his level of any PC I've made, because defensive stance without waiting to qualify for a prestige class is very good.

The two main challenges that I had with the build were:

1. You give up smite, which is a big part of a standard paladin's damage output. Mine never did as much damage as other martials of his level, but feats and weapon enchantments can help with that.

2. The action economy can take some practice to get used to, especially if you enemy doesn't conveniently stand still. You won't get as many mercies, but you want fatigue to be your first one so that can: move (break stance, become fatigued); swift to lay on hands (remove fatigue); standard to attack; then, next turn, swift to re-enter the stance if you're adjacent to a target. There is also an option at higher level that lets you take a 5-ft step without losing the stance.

It's taken a little over a year, but I finally marked off the last two boxes on my Game Store Owner boon last week. And that makes me curious: What kinds of characters have other Starfinder GMs out there applied this boon to?

My game store owner is Anohana, proprietor of Blue Shift Games on Absalom Station (portraits here and here). I very much used the boon as the starting point of her concept, and she's just reached 4th level (mostly through GM credit, but I have played her a couple of times, and hope to again at some cons this year).

I made her a samsaran vidgamer witchwarper. She routinely gets flashes from past lives, virtual realities, and alternate worlds, respectively, so occasionally gets a little confused about which reality she's operating at every given moment. But that rich array of experiences gives her plenty of inspiration for new game material. She's a member of the Advocates faction, because she sees playing games as an excellent way to help people bond with others, and escape from their own troubles for a time.

Anohana was born to lashunta parents on Castrovel, so had vestigial antennae, but did not actually possess telepathy until very recently, when she was finally able to afford a limited telepathy graft. She has also learned a couple of spells that duplicate innate lashunta magic, because her family identity remains important to her. As a samsaran, she matured and ages more slowly than the rest of her family, so she doesn't look much older than her nephew Query, who provides tech support for her store--and occasionally her Starfinder missions. (Anohona may be a vidgamer, but she's hopeless with any other tech.)

Because I don't know how many more new characters I'll be making for SFS 1E with 2E on the horizon, I am also loading up Anohana with as many boons as I can. Besides Game Store Owner and Samsaran Admittance, she also started off as the beneficiary of two boons earned by my high-level Wayfinder PC: Alien Allies (apply a race boon without using the Personal boon slot) and Forum Member (stat boost to a new 1st-level protege). With her Personal slot freed up, I was able to finally give someone the Possessed Augmentation boon that I received at my first SFS con game a few years ago. (You can see hers in her portraits.)

I've not played either an arcanist or a psychic, so can't speak about those. I've not played a wizard to high level in Pathfinder (my PFS diviner only ever got to 3rd level, so never got to start the harrower PrC I was aiming at for her).

I have played a sorcerer to 10th level and witch to 14th level in PFS. The sorcerer was primarily a blaster with a smattering of other spells (enchantment and summoning from his serpentine bloodline, and basic personal buffs like mirror image). He was almost more "diplomancer" than spellcaster, who acquired land and titles during his career--despite being a obvious foreigner (nagaji) in Taldor.

The witch was interesting because I gave her an archetype (white-haired witch) that gave up one of the class's signature abilities (hexes). The big challenge with her was keeping the hair schtick useful and relevant with only a half-BAB class. Around level 9 or so, she had finally learned enough potent offensive spells that she rarely ever used her hair in combat again except to provide flanking to others, and make the occasional AoO (both with hefty reach). She didn't really specialize in any particular kinds of spells, but her spellbook did end up having a few distinct groups of spells:

* "Fix this problem tomorrow" spells (remove blindness, remove curse, etc., and eventually even raise dead). With the exception of heal, she rarely prepared these unless she already had a patient to treat.
* Mobility (fly, overland travel, dimension door).
* Nasty tricks that she had experienced as the victim at some point (blindness, black tentacles, feeblemind) and was petty enough to want to try on others. These spells basically filled the save-or-suck hex itch for her.

For a (very slightly) less extreme example, I played a character to 20th level who had the Vital Strike feat tree and an impact earthbreaker:

3d6 base damage
×3 crit multiplier = +6d6
Greater Vital Strike = +9d6

= Total 18d6 on Vital Strike crit (plus 3x his considerable static bonus [>30] from Strength, enhancement bonus, and high-BAB Power Attack)

When I had to retire him, his average damage was around 80 hp per hit, or 180 hp with a crit.

I'm pretty sure a PF2 AP has you briefly meet some Contemplatives on Akiton - who's to say a few didn't decide to make the trip back to Golarion with those heroes?

Contemplatives have been part of PF since 1E. Distant Worlds, the gazetteer for the other planets in Golarion's solar system, includes the Contemplatives of Ashok in the chapter on Akiton and in its bestiary appendix.

On a side note, reading Distant Worlds for the first time a few years after reading Pact Worlds was quite fascinating! The Starfinder developers clearly used all that lore as starting points, but some worlds have changed MUCH more radically than others. (One example: The chapter on Apostae makes zero mention of the drow, so their dominance of the planet clearly dates to a much later period.)

The longest running solo player game I've run used BESM 3E. As with most RPGs designed for a group of PCs, there are a lot of factors to take into account with a single player (action economy, more gaps in skills, getting stuck if that one PC fails at a critical moment, etc.). But we've made it work, mostly by making her character fairly powerful on her own, giving her an NPC companion, and having many situations resolved through role-playing rather than fighting.

Trail of Cthulhu and Gumshoe have "Confidential" campaign books designed for one player and one GM, but I haven't played either version of either game. But from what I've heard on the creators' podcast, the saving grace of those solo games is that the base game system takes the approach that the PCs are highly competent at their professions, and always get the clue they need to continue to the next part of the story. Failure just means that progress comes at a higher price (expending more resources, getting injured, etc.).

Tim Emrick wrote:

In my group's round-robin Torch/Shadow Lodge game, we've reached 10th level, and will be playing Shadows Fall on Absalom tonight. After that, we have 7 more scenarios before the finale of Passing the Torch Parts 1 & 2 at 12th level.

So close to the end!!

Do most / any of the others know how it ends?

More or less.

This is mostly the same group that played through two APs (Giantslayer and Shattered Star, alternating books and GMs) in PFS-mode a few years ago. We filled in some gaps in level advancement with parts of Emerald Spire, PFS scenarios, and a high-level module or two, and ended up reaching 19th level at the end. (A subset of us reached 20th later after one last PFS special that had no upper limit.)

Part of the PFS content we used was Passing the Torch, because it was Seeker tier, and still relatively new at the time. However, those PCs had never met Torch before, so most of the relevant backstory was lost on them. (I believe that all of the players had had experiences with Torch, with other PCs, so out of character, we all had our own thoughts about him.)

We're all very curious how PTT will turn out this time around. At least a couple of the players despise Torch out of character, while another (my wife) generally dislikes him but has been much more sympathetic since playing the scenario where you finally learn about his early history. (That one is coming up next level, shortly before PTT.)

The junk shop owner Julzakama is depicted in a muscle shirt, which shows off more skin than any other vesk portrait that I can think of offhand. That piece of art doesn't render individual scales. However, apart from his head spikes, his skin texture seems to be pretty uniform overall, with a subtle shift in color on his neck and chest.

If it was allowed the monsters from that other game: the Beholder, Mind Flayer and Umber Hulk are the main ones for me.

Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary* includes an Eye Tyrant template, which will essentially make a beholder-like creature from any monster, with (IIRC) one eyestalk per HD. I built an eye tyrant T-rex once, just to see how freakishly powerful it would end up, and my players should be thankful I never used it!

(* It's third party, but Paizo has adopted a number of templates from this book into their Bestiaries over the years.)

For the past few months, my wife and I have been playing PF1 over Zoom with some old friends in the state that we moved away from a decade ago. It's our GM's homebrew setting, in an oppressive empire that has just been thrown into chaos by the global failure of magical collars used to control a slave class (comprised of both common races and more "monstrous" humanoids). Apparently, this "Day of Chaos" was caused by the death of the Dominator god, which was caused *somehow* by a widespread resistance movement.

Our characters' adventures so far have largely focused on exploring the countryside in the aftermath of the Day of Chaos, and helping various surviving settlements reconnect. Along the way, we've discovered that the Dominator's death was followed by the appearance of "sparks" of divine power in the world. These sparks can enter people and animals and give them new powers: animals get bigger and more dangerous, people become strong or develop magical powers. When one host is killed, the spark moves to the nearest suitable host--which means that each of the PCs has acquired at least one spark. We are still learning what they do and where they came from. But they appear to be some kind of fallout from the conflict that resulted in the Dominator's death. We're also trying to learn more about how exactly that death happened, which involves a whole tapestry of related mysteries.

Our 5 PCs include two former "Collared," my half-orc fighter and an aasimar cleric/monk of the Dawnflower. The others are my PC's sister, a half-orc rogue (with ties to the Resistance); a catfolk ranger; and a human wizard who was born into the aristocracy (and thus has familial ties to the imperial government that benefited from the existence of Collared). We've also acquired a couple of NPC companions: a half-orc acolyte of the Dawnflower (who looks to the PC cleric as a mentor, and my fighter as a hero and crush), and a talking pony (presumably awakened by a spark).

Coracle has already grabbed a tankard of grog from the stores being opened to celebrate the expedition's victory. "It was a small army of Pathfinders going willingly into the Eye of Abendego. It was bound to get weird," the catfolk says with exaggerated gravity, before taking a long pull from his drink, then laughing heartily. "The gods of luck have smiled on us today, mateys, so let's thank them by being merry!" He starts dancing to the sailors' song, with a grace born more of natural athleticism than any real skill at dancing.

Boomer gives a satisfied nod at Lunesha's fall as they administer the serum to Madakoko. "You were an excellent helper today, nufriend," they murmur as the skittermander revives.

serum of healing, mk 3: 6d8 ⇒ (7, 5, 1, 4, 7, 2) = 26
Mk 3 is undoubtedly overkill with the fight over, but it's what I intended, and Boomer's professional paranoia is still high right now.

The normally serene android openly scowls at the Vault Lord's haughty words. When the psychic projection vanishes, they mutter a vow: "Next time, this ends, you deluded, overweening monster."

As the Starfinders are escorted out, Boomer does their best to assess the condition of the rescued team as best they can while on the move. They seem particularly interested in Betsy Blast, who got a taste of vengeance at the end, but is obviously quite traumatized.

"Cheating? You seem to be under the mistaken impression that we are here to play games," Boomer says, using their vocal modulator to make their voice sound deeper and more stern. "We are here to pass judgment." The android pulls a super-capacity battery from a pocket and drains most of its power to fuel the casting of another dispel magic targeting Lunesha.

Energize spell magic hack (1/day) as move to cast a 3rd-level spell (drains 60 [of 80] charges from battery). 2nd and final daily use of abjuration technomantic talent as a reaction to add +2 to the CL check.
Dispel Magic, CL check: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 2 = 20
Sadly, none of my remaining rerolls applies here. But I can try this spell one more time, using my one remaining 4th-level slot.

We had a condition giving a successful Treat Wounds between missions, so presumably we got that before the start of this Part?
Treat Wounds: 2d8 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8 That brings Coracle to full (was only down 5.)

"So many fishies, but all of them smell rotten," Coracle growls as the demons approach. He takes up his usual fighting posture, and starts slicing at the nearest demon.

◆ Tiger Stance
◆ Flurry of Blows vs. Green (if both hit, apply resistances/weaknesses only once):
+1 tiger claw: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
+1 tiger claw, MAP: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 10 - 4 = 14, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

◆ Strike vs. Green: +1 tiger claw, MAP: 1d20 + 10 - 8 ⇒ (13) + 10 - 8 = 15, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

End of turn, vs. aura: Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12 Coracle is frightened 1.

The catfolk pirate is definitely more tiger than housecat, a strong swimmer who doesn't seem to mind the water. As the Pathfinders swim through the tunnels, Coracle helps to speed along the less experienced swimmers, and gives them a satisfied grin when they emerge into air again.

"Sharp work there, Chirret. That could've gotten nasty real quick," he says quietly as he looks around.

Yarrr!

"Ah, clones. Of course," Boomer murmurs to themself, as that datum explains much about the false Starfinders' bizarre behavior.

They study the screen carefully as they head for the elevator. As they do so, Boomer addresses Lunesha. "Why this elaborate charade? Doesn't the Vault Lord have the power to simply take what they want?"

Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (1) + 18 = 19 to study the video.
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15 to keep Lunesha talking.

Wow....two nat 1's...well, at least that's not an auto-fail with skill checks. *shrug*

This skill challenge seems to be going well, why not try the other one?

I've added "dead" text boxes beside Red and Yellow to cut down on confusion.

"Shut that blasted thing's gob!" Coracle howls at his crewmates, pointing at the figurehead. He then puts every effort he can into showing his opponent who the deadlier pirate on this ship is.

◆ Flurry of Blows vs. Green
+1 tiger claw: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
+1 tiger claw, MAP: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 10 - 4 = 25, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

◆ Strike
+1 tiger claw, MAP: 1d20 + 10 - 8 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 8 = 20, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

◆ Strike
+1 tiger claw, MAP: 1d20 + 10 - 8 ⇒ (3) + 10 - 8 = 5, Damage (S): 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Finally, some decent attack rolls! If Coracle finishes off Green before running out of actions, sub in a Stride to move next to Blue, then continue with Strikes on it with any remaining actions.

Boomer decides to follow Reaper's lead, thinking it might be easier to spring whatever trap might be coming than to figure out what precisely is with this other team right now. With that in mind, they continue to study Merin and his team with arcane sight to determine if any of them are spellcasters.

Arcane sight didn't show any signs of magical influence, but just in case it comes up later, Boomer has technomantic talent with illusion. They automatically gain a save vs. any illusion within 60 ft., and the DC is reduced by 2 vs. the first two illusions encountered each day. I'll add a note to my senses line.

”I already be a pirate, ye blasted ninny of a fish!” Coracle growls, his nautical accent growing thicker as his anger grows. ”And don’t ye know, cats eat little fishies?”

Aye, aye, Cap'n Hmm!

Thankee fer takin' the helm when we was becalmed!

Giants, because I want another Pholskar adventure, to see where certain events are headed. I'd prefer it to be in this last season of SFS 1E, so I can play it with the same PC as the first two, but will settle for 2E, as long as that story line doesn't simply evaporate.

I was glad to see Jotun in the 2E Playtest language list, because having a giant-ruled planet with no Giant language in 1E was rather surprising.

Got two sets? He's a kasatha. ;)

IIRC from my v.3.5 days, we rerolled if none of the scores was at least 14, or if the total modifiers didn't up to at +6 [the average total with a 13 on everything].

I'm currently running this AP for my home group, a couple of whom have played a lot of Starfinder Society and a couple who have played very little (or not in some time, anyway).

We've finished the first 3 adventures so far. Assigning credit for parts 1-2 was no big deal for anyone, and even my two less experienced players have characters in the 3-6 range to whom they can apply credit for parts 3-4. (One even has a level 5, from when they played more regularly a few years back, but I doubt the other does.)

I expect that all five of us will eventually have to start reserving some Chronicles for when a character reaches higher levels. I already know that I will need to do that for at least the last two adventures, because my only SFS character who has reached 11-14 was the one who I played the original scenarios with.

Whether you're able to apply a Chronicle immediately or not, you will still earn the Achievement Points for the session right away, and those can be spent on any of your Starfinder Society characters. So that's one more advantage that they will have, besides the extra wealth and XP.

The Inventor Dedication feat gives you an innovation, which can be a construct. The construct companion rules explicitly say that you can ride your companion if it's at least one size larger than the rider.

OTOH, that feat requires Int 14 (+2 under Remaster rules), so it might be out of reach for most champions, unless you play heavily against type.

I think 2e has a fundamental problem of mixing different mechanics into different parts of the game that shouldn't necessarily overlap that much. Language barriers are a potentially interesting, if niche problem in exploration or downtime if you're trying to communicate with people who don't share your language, but in encounters it just means some of your abilities simply don't work unless you picked the right language, which to me is kinda meh. The gameplay to patch over this doesn't strike me as tremendously interesting, and the implementation of languages as written doesn't really give amazing insight into the people, locations, and cultures they stem from.

My favorite implementation of language rules to date is a PFS 2E scenario where the PCs need to get information from a scholarly merchant. Knowing one or more of four uncommon languages makes the influence checks easier, but they're still possible without them.

(My PC know at least three of them, so her obsession with weird, creepy languages finally paid off!)

I noticed that the lists of deities for the Avatar spell (page 222) and the list in the Deities section of Chapter 8 (page 245-249) do not match up exactly: Desna, Iomedae, and Sarenrae only appear under Avatar, while Lambetuin, Lissala, and Meyel only appear in Chaper 8.

Are Desna, Iomedae, and Sarenrae no longer considered core deities? (I did notice that the new list numbers 20, same as the core deities in PF2.) These three were all fairly prominent in 1E, so I'm curious about the explanation, if any.

If those three are still available as deities, should we be using their Player Core entries for relevant character options? At the very least, favored weapons would need to be updated.

I have a friend who usually GMs for his home group in OK, but he finally got to play his thaumaturge while back in KY for a conference.

"I'm going to use Personal Antithesis, and lay on the Southern guilt."

Absolom station being effectively an ever expanding non-euclidean space is, in fact, a major aspect of this adventure.

Golarian being somehow stuffed into the Ghost Levels is a pretty reasonable theory actually.

Oooh, here's an idea for the Gap conspiracy theorists to gnaw on: Someone used the Starstone to preserve Golarion within itself, similarly to how the Kryptonian city of Kandor was preserved in a jar in the Superman comics. This could possibly be the result of a Starstone test gone horribly wrong--or very right, because the alternative was the planet's annihilation? (Maybe Rovagug finally got loose?) Either way, the Gap was the fallout. And now, to restore Lost Golarion, some new aspiring god-hero will need to pass the Test of the Starstone. And naturally, just as in the original Absalom, the Test becomes more challenging with each attempt made, whether successful or not.

(Hmm. I think I may have the start of a 2E witchwarper concept there...)

Shelyn was never jettisoned, she just hasn't been as prominent in Starfinder lore until this brand-new Zon-Shelyn event.

The Starfinder core deities are necessarily different from the Pathfinder core deities because the scope and nature of the universe has changed greatly between the two eras. There are countless alien species with gods of their own. Some of these have found followers beyond their original systems and species, just as some the old gods of Golarion have become popular outside the Pact Worlds. The gods in the Starfinder Core Rulebook are limited to those whose faiths have gone the most "interstellar."

Shelyn is mentioned at least once in the 1E Core Rulebook, in Zon-Kuthon's entry. And even in her apparent absence, she still has at least one prominent temple dedicated to her (Songbird Station in the Diaspora; see Pact Worlds, p. 86).

I haven't read any of the new lore on Zon-Shelyn yet, but it seems that the speculation in Zon-Kuthon's 1E write-up proved to be true: Shelyn has been preoccupied for some time now with finding a way to redeem her brother, but now she can finally turn her attention back to the mortal realm.

Green Ronin's Freeport Trilogy is pretty cool, and could be set in Ilzmagorti with minimal flavor-swapping.

Looks like someone beat me to recommending this one!

The trilogy was written for v.3.0, and later revised to v.3.5 (by yours truly, so I may be a wee bit biased). GR later released a couple Freeport setting books using Pathfinder 1E, if you want more material to expand on the setting.

I hate to point this out, but the Known Weaknesses feat only gives you the bonus to attack if you critically succeed the Recall Knowledge check. Otherwise it just saves you an action. My investigator who has it is now level 7 but I think he has only managed to crit the roll once or twice ever.

Tim Emrick wrote:

Torch/Shadow Lodge Campaign

Hi Tim, sorry, one other question for you... Are there any of these scenarios that you would count as filler / that you would take out if levelling didn't matter? (I assume the four level 1 scenarios aren't part of the story based on your comment, but I'm curious about the rest.)

There were a number of 1st-level scenarios that mention the Shadow Lodge but don't have very much to do with it, so we decided to play some repeatables instead for that level. So, yes, that level was filler.

Night March of Kalakamedes is filler, and once that was added, Valley of Veiled Flame was added because of how its reward interacts with the former scenario's.

Beyond that, I'd have to do some digging through our group's discussion to figure that what else was filler.

IIRC, the player who worked out the initial draft found most of his information by combing through scenario tags for "Shadow Lodge" and using PathfinderWiki to identify all of Torch's appearances.

Tim Emrick wrote:

...which is essentially a curated history of Torch's involvement in PFS plot lines (occasionally out of chronological order due to level tiers), with Passing the Torch as our final adventure at level 12. This one is more round-robin, with the five of us having aporoximately the same number of scenarios to run over the course of the campaign. We are 6th level now, having recently completed the Destiny of the Sands trilogy, and will be finishing Shadow's Last Stand next week.

You don't happen to have a list of all of the scenarios your group is playing through, do you?

Here is our schedule, which was originally drawn up by @cmlobue, then modified by committee:

Torch/Shadow Lodge Campaign

(roughly chronological within subtier; multi-table specials not included do to logistics)
Lv 1: 5-08, 6-10, 9-16, and Murder's Mark (all slow)
Lv 2: 0-01, 0-14, 1-45
Lv 3: 2-15, 2-17, 2-19
Lv 4: 3-01, 3-18, 4-19
Lv 5: 9-04, 5-12, 5-15
Lv 6 5-16, 2-23, 2-24, 4-21, 4-23, 9-21 (all slow)
Lv 7: 2-06, 2-07, 2-09
Lv 8: 3-12, 3-14, 4-03
Lv 9: 4-22, 4-24, 2-25, 6-07 (first 2 slow)
Lv 10: 2-04, 2-26, 3-20, 3-22 (last 2 slow)
Lv 11: 4-12, 4-20, 9-07
Lv 12: 9-25, 10-22, 10-23

Where only one part of an arc was tagged Shadow Lodge, we tweaked the schedule to fit in the whole arc. Between those additions, and the number of relevant scenarios at that level, we're currently playing all of 6th level in slow mode. (We are doing 2-24 tonight.)

Level 1 is mostly repeatable filler. We avoided quests because you have to play pregens for those, and we only wanted to play our new, weird PCs.

Our party conissts of any four of the following five, depending on who is GMing:

95. "The monster didn't use this special attack on anyone else until now because I--I mean it--only just remembered that it had this ability. But you have its attention now, so roll that save."

I've been playing PFS since S7 of 1E, Starfinder since partway through Season 1 (it took a while to get traction in our area), and PFS 2E since its inception. Like Hmm, it's been my primary RPG outlet for most of that time. Even my home gaming group tends to favor scenarios and APs that earn us organized play credit these days.

I have a fairly large stable of characters for each of those campaigns, but there's usually only a handful of them that see regular play at any given time.

In the most recent seasons of PFS, the metaplot has been broken into short arcs of 2 or 3 scenarios that each tell discreet parts of the season's overall story. That helps make the metaplot more accessible to all players, both the long-time veterans and the newbies who know none of the back story yet.

As Hmm said, there are many opportunities for roleplaying and character development. At times, you might have tone down some of the theatrics in order to keep the pace of the game on track, but if you can inject some fun color without significantly delaying game play, by all means embrace that!

Nearly every venue will have some regular players whose characters you will get to know over time, and depending on scheduling and the scenario, you may even be able to coordinate with them to play certain combinations of characters who work well together--or who are just fun to play off each other. My wife and I have created at least one set of characters who only adventure together, because they're built to be partners, but we and other regular locals also have several characters who are old companions simply because they've always been playing at the same tier together most of their careers. (At the other end of the spectrum, conventions are a rare treat because we get to play with very different folks, which is its own kind of fun.)

Hmm makes a good point about PbP offering a way to inject more roleplaying into the experience, without the time pressures of a live game. There's more time to think about developing your character's style and mannerisms, their likes and dislikes, and how they interact with the world. And even if you know a character pretty well, you might discover something surprising because of the opportunities to pause and reflect. (I had a 12th-level Starfinder character whose lovelife I'd never really thought about in all the time I'd played her, when suddenly she meets a new and unusual NPC who made her go, "Oh, so that's what I like." She didn't pursue the NPC in any way--that would have distracted from the mission and potentially could have been very awkward, both IC and OOC--but it definitely informed her interest in that conversation and attitude toward the NPC. And it was one more note to file away for future roleplaying.)

Finally, welcome, and I hope you find the kind of game experience you're looking for!

Shortly before COVID started, a group of us who GMed regularly at our FLGS started up a weekly PFS 1E game for just us GMs. We alternated books of two APs (Giantslayer and Shattered Star, different GMs for each AP) in PFS-mode, with a few levels of Emerald Spire or other module or PFS scenario to fill the occasional leveling gap. We were forced to go online halfway through the first book, and have been there ever since.

After we completed that campaign, we started our current one, which is essentially a curated history of Torch's involvement in PFS plot lines (occasionally out of chronological order due to level tiers), with Passing the Torch as our final adventure at level 12. This one is more round-robin, with the five of us having aporoximately the same number of scenarios to run over the course of the campaign. We are 6th level now, having recently completed the Destiny of the Sands trilogy, and will be finishing Shadow's Last Stand next week.

This might very well be the last campaign-length thing this group does with PF1, so we all spent some time combing through old boons to apply as many as we could to our PCs. As a result, we have party composed of a dhampir, a naiad, a Triaxian, and 2 tieflings--and my wife's inquisitor worships one of her retired PCs, thanks to another boon. For me, it's also a chance to try an archetype (escapologist) and PrC (shadowdancer) that I've never played before.

My first post is in 2011, but I can't imagine I was lurking around much before that. That is about when I started playing RPGs in earnest. Now excuse me while I wither to dust and ponder the illusion of time.

You sweet summer child. If you're turning to dust after only 13 years of gaming, what about us ancient ones who have been at it for 40+?

Or at least multiclassing rules that make it painless to multiclass and DON'T nerf PCs who do this, so they can still be used in Organized Play adventures for their char level.

The core mechanics of SF 2E will be based on PF 2E, so I imagine that multiclassing will work just like PF multiclass archetypes do. In my experience, characters that take archetypes are pretty well balanced against other characters of their level. You're spending some of your feats on another class's abilities, but you still have access to your main class's abilities at your full level.

Please support Organised Play, including a way to convert 1E characters to 2E without losing their experience or boons.

I don't see this happening. The colossal effort it would take to try to work out how to do this in any way that resembles fair (which I'm not convinced is possible anyway) would be better spent on producing tons of new content for the new edition. Organized Play survived the shift from PF 1E to 2E just fine, and I'm confident that SF will, too.

Please don't make non-human Ancestry use up a Feat slot. That just automatically nerfs all non-human PCs compared to humans and takes away their options to use other feats.

All ancestries will get the same number of ancestry-specific feats at certain levels in 2E, just like in PF 2E.

I am curious to see if SF Society 2E will use the same boon slot types as 1E. PFS 2E doesn't really use that same framework, and IIRC, its ancestry and heritage boons that cost AcP don't have a type descriptor anyway.

I've finished rereading Three Days to Never. Powers has a real knack for thinking through the mechanisms and consequences of the paranormal elements that his plots hinge upon.

I'm now rereading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things anthology. The reason I chose to reread it is a bit silly: The actress who I "cast" as one of my longest-running and most-loved RPG characters has exactly the sort of Grecian profile that Gaiman gave one of the girls at the party. The story and the actress remind me of each other frequently, but it had been a few years since I'd read it. (I have yet to see the movie based on the story, but really should.) And, of course, the rest of the book is very much worth rereading while I've got it pulled out.

I am still hyped about the direction that this season is going in, if only because I plan on having a lot of fun with my archaeologist biohacker.

Excellent point. I need to dust off my archaeologist mechanic for the low-level Sarmak missions this season.

And I'm eager to see what the high-level fare for the season will be, because my 13th-level ace pilot really wants one last chance to strut her stuff before the edition change forces her to reluctantly turn her full attention to her Forum position rather than gallivanting all across the galaxy.