Pathfinder Adventure Path #196: The Summer That Never Was (Season of Ghosts 1 of 4)

Announced for October! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

FOUR PARTS?!

I will get this!

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

It also means we're very likely to be getting a tie in lost omens (or rulebook I guess) product concerning Tian Xia, my excitement is very very high.

May be there are going to be 4 seasons that never were.

keftiu wrote:

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

It also means we're very likely to be getting a tie in lost omens (or rulebook I guess) product concerning Tian Xia, my excitement is very very high.

Nope. We’re getting TWO Lost Omens tie-in books!!!

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

Not quite... Season of Ghosts is volumes #196–#199. Volume 200 is not part of this Adventure Path, but is something else we haven't yet announced.

Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

It looks like this AP ends with 199.

I might not be able to count, but at least I can feel gratified that "spiders" did indeed seem to point at Shenmen!

*and preordered*

HUZZAH! GHOSTS! I LOVE GHOSTS!

The-Magic-Sword wrote:

keftiu wrote:

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

It also means we're very likely to be getting a tie in lost omens (or rulebook I guess) product concerning Tian Xia, my excitement is very very high.

Nope. We’re getting TWO Lost Omens tie-in books!!!

lmao i saw right after, so damn exciting

Is this case of "ya know we decided we won't name the town Willowshore in an asian language since to locals it would still be Willowshore, so it would be silly" or case of ap starting outside of Shenmen? :O I'mma curious

A four part AP, interesting. AP #200 must be something really special.

Is this case of "ya know we decided we won't name the town Willowshore in an asian language since to locals it would still be Willowshore, so it would be silly" or case of ap starting outside of Shenmen? :O I'mma curious

Because Shenmen is a region that doesn't map directly to a real world region. Just as Ustalav brings in horror tropes from multiple countries, so does Shenmen, and by naming the town as a compound word rather than making up a nonsense word that sounds Asian or by picking a specific real world Asian language, "Willowshore" is on equal footing across all languages.

It's also easier to translate a compound word for products that are translated into other languages.

And by using a compound word, we give the reader some immediate flavor to associate with the settlement. You know willow trees and shores are a part of this brand new town already.

It also follows traditions we've used in the Inner Sea, in naming some towns like Sandpoint, Riddleport, Westcrown, Carrion Hill, Highhelm, Whitethrone, Bloodcove, Starfall, etc.

Sometimes we make up a nonsense word for a place. Sometimes we use a compound word.

The Adventure Path starts in Willowshore with the expectation that the PCs are all locals, or at least have lived in Willowshore long enough to consider it their home town.

It sounds like we're getting an adventure path that will allow for some actual down-time during and between adventures. I love that.

It sounds like we're getting an adventure path that will allow for some actual down-time during and between adventures. I love that.

Season of Ghosts is 100% built to play out over the course of 1 year, with each volume covering 3 months (one season). Which is plenty of time for some groups to do lots of downtime stuff (and absolutely each adventure will include downtime play elements)... but also too short for other groups who prefer the idea of going from 1st to 12th level be something that takes multiple years rather than just a single year.

But yes. This Adventure Path will have some significant parts that lean into exploration and downtime play as well as encounter play.

This definitely sounds like an interesting AP. And the two tie-in books look to be very promising. I think I may have to subscribe for this AP when it comes out. A first for me in 12 years of playing Pathfinder.

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

It sounds like we're getting an adventure path that will allow for some actual down-time during and between adventures. I love that.

Season of Ghosts is 100% built to play out over the course of 1 year, with each volume covering 3 months (one season). Which is plenty of time for some groups to do lots of downtime stuff (and absolutely each adventure will include downtime play elements)... but also too short for other groups who prefer the idea of going from 1st to 12th level be something that takes multiple years rather than just a single year.

But yes. This Adventure Path will have some significant parts that lean into exploration and downtime play as well as encounter play.

A year in the life where the players get to put down roots, and make a difference to the town is actually amazing, and would definitely lure me into running another Tian-Xia themed adventure path after running Jade Regent for 11 Years (and 3 of those years in Tian Xia)

Horror Story? Sppoky horror stuff? Seasonal Theming????

HYPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

If only there was a shaman class to fit the spirit themes of this adventure. Hint hint at Paizo

I love Tian Xia.Wanna see more exciting fashionable modern Asian theme.

Will this come out on Foundry pre-built at the same time?

Will this come out on Foundry pre-built at the same time?

It's likely, but probably too early to get Paizo confirmation.

This is an adventure I have longed to see. I will 100% buy this adventure path and can’t wait to see the first instalment. Shenmen has been the one country in Tian Xia I’ve most wanted to run an adventure in. I lived in Japan for a number of years and Japanese ghost stories and indeed chinese ghost stories too, have a flavour all their own. I know Shenmen is not supposed to be Japan or China, but its going to be a fantastic place for a horror adventure, rainy, overcast, forested and full of ghosts, evil fey, spiders and Jorogumo…….what could be better!

So I guess we now need a 2-3 part high level adventure to cover levels 13-20? Combine that with a single adventure covering levels 11-12, and we would have yet another sequel to all of the low level 3-parters we already have.

So I guess we now need a 2-part high level adventure to cover levels 13-20? Combine that with a single adventure covering levels 11-12, and we would have yet another sequel to all of the low level 3-parters we already have.

Could also just be very slightly OP for the first book of Ruby Phoenix.

keftiu wrote:

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

Not quite... Season of Ghosts is volumes #196–#199. Volume 200 is not part of this Adventure Path, but is something else we haven't yet announced.

Doubtful it will be a 2-book AP, so perhaps an 8-book AP?

I mean, nothing says the numbers have to all line up. Could very well do a three book from 200-202.

SnowBeast90 wrote:

Will this come out on Foundry pre-built at the same time?

It's likely, but probably too early to get Paizo confirmation.

I would bet (a tiny bit of) cash money that, even if they somehow fall behind on other things, Sigil Entertainment is going to be asked to give this AP's conversion a *priority* treatment so that the Foundry version is available day-and-date with the magazine.

This is probably one of the bigger, more visible APs in years. I'm sure it'll get treated right.

I'm hoping that the bestiaries in this AP tap into Asian folklore and horror cinema. Paizo's adoption of real world folklore into there books has been a huge draw for me.

Since Paizo has completely abandoned the "there must be a 1st issue of an AP at GenCon" assumption, the gloves are off!

I also realized that you can combine this AP with Fist of the Ruby Phoenix is to make a Tian Xia centric campaign that goes from 1 - 20.

A four-parter! A Tian AP that starts at level one! A chance to see Shenmen! Being in Tian Xia for AP #200!

SO much exciting stuff here, I’m glowing.

SHENMEN!!!

On a scale of 1-10, how much of the Flavor of this AP is -- from monster-encounters, to themes, to bits of mythology -- are Oriental? (My gut tells me a 9 or 10.)

The only reason I ask is that, when I read the three-paragraph intro at the top, excluding the opening sentence's "Located in haunted Shenmen in the heart of the sprawling continent of Tian Xia," everything about the AP Screamed Issia & Rostland to me. Like, this AP is destined to be dropped in the Finadar Forest, or some other stretch of heretofore not-yet-written-up-in-detail chunk of that region.

So I guess the question is, how much homebrew work from the DM of this awesome-sounding four-part AP would be needed to move it from Shenmen to somewhere in Issia or Rostland? Would it just be switching half of the monsters from Oriental to Western -- and maybe a little Flavor here and there? Or is this AP so thick of Oriental Adventures Flavor that, once a DM starts reading over it, there's just no way to take it out of Tian Xia?

On a scale of 1-10, how much of the Flavor of this AP is...

0 "Oriental" flavor (that being an outdated and obsolete and offensive term unless you're talking about rugs).

10 for "Asian" though. Maybe even 11. The entire adventure path takes place in Shenmen, and is primarily inspired by Asian horror movies (particularly those from Japan, China, and South Korea) and myths. Shenmen itself isn't meant to be a specific "stand in" for any real-world region, and there's influence and inspiration from across Asia in this Adventure Path. Thematically and lore wise, it'd be a very awkward fit for somewhere outside of Tian-Xia, down to and including the very structure of it being a 4-part story built off of not a 3-act structure but a 4-act one based on Kishōtenketsu, a classic storytelling structure used in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean narratives.

If you DO want to transplant this Adventure Path into the Inner Sea region, somewhere in Ustalav is probably the closest choice, thematically, from a horror tropes standpoint. But it'll probably be a lot of work, especially since I and the authors are doing everything we can to make it be the best Shenmen-located campaign we possibly can.

Shenmen is explicitly the Asian Horror Land in the theme park palette of Golarion. I don’t really see any similarities to Brevoy other than the shared existence of forests. You might have something if you’d said Ustalav, but even then… this is the AP they’re pairing with a massive Tian Xia push - it’s gonna feel Tian.

why does waiting on all of this feels so terrible????

We JUST started Gatewalkers, my table is already talking about the "Tian Xia" AP--glad to see the horror inspired aspects.
I am VERY excited to see a four-part story. Six books can be too long for our local group, and three can be too short.
Up next: AP of Elemental Evil, Horsey's of the AP-ocalypse, the Clover Conspiracy, Renaissance Turtles.

OOOOH!

Facinating tidbit got dropped in another thread.

Kobold Catgirl wrote:

Actually, it sounds like Season Of Ghosts is set in the past, which is cool, and I didn't know it at the time. I think it's probably about as far as they're going to go into that concept.

Season of Ghosts begins on the first day of summer in the year 7108 IC (which converts to 4608 AR), so 2 years or so after the Age of Lost Omens begins.

This is sort of an experiment in that regard to see how folks react to something like this, but also, the entire adventure path is pretty tightly constrained to a small region in Willowshore. There's not going to be a chance for your PCs to swoop around the world and take part in historical events in other words.

We'll see if we want to do something like that again in the future after these tentative first steps.

Facinating tidbit got dropped in another thread.

James Jacobs wrote:

Kobold Catgirl wrote:

Actually, it sounds like Season Of Ghosts is set in the past, which is cool, and I didn't know it at the time. I think it's probably about as far as they're going to go into that concept.

Season of Ghosts begins on the first day of summer in the year 7108 IC (which converts to 4608 AR), so 2 years or so after the Age of Lost Omens begins.

This is sort of an experiment in that regard to see how folks react to something like this, but also, the entire adventure path is pretty tightly constrained to a small region in Willowshore. There's not going to be a chance for your PCs to swoop around the world and take part in historical events in other words.

We'll see if we want to do something like that again in the future after these tentative first steps.

I wonder if this AP then is tied somehow to the death of Aroden? Kind of like how Tyrant's Grasp tied into his earthly shenanigans and then when he died it messed things up. He seems to have liked to stick his fingers into many different pies.

Probably not.

They've said that it isn't.

"Aroden died on his Asian vacation" is a pretty funny thought, though.

Just a note that Aroden did not just die. He was murdered.

This Adventure Path has nothing to do with Aroden, and is set in a region where Aroden has never had any presence or influence, and is about something else entirely.

So this is set before/during Rise of the Runelords?

A little over a century in the past.