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

Will a Player's Guide be released before the adventure is released?

Will a Player's Guide be released before the adventure is released?

Given that they’ve done one for every single other PF2 AP, I don’t see a reason why they’d stop.

roll4initiative wrote:

Will a Player's Guide be released before the adventure is released?

Given that they’ve done one for every single other PF2 AP, I don’t see a reason why they’d stop.

I didn't ask if there will be a Player's Guide, I'm asking if it will be released/available before the AP is.

Yeah they are usually released a couple of weeks before; it’ll be after the last book of current AP Sky Kings Tomb is out

Will a Player's Guide be released before the adventure is released?

Yes, we are targeting early October.

Excited for this, and intend to run via PbP!

Will there be any advice or codification on what constitutes "common" and "uncommon" and "rare" options across the continent for this AP?

Excited for this, and intend to run via PbP!

Will there be any advice or codification on what constitutes "common" and "uncommon" and "rare" options across the continent for this AP?

Not in this adventure, although when we created it, we did skew the treasures and contents toward what would be appropriate for a campaign set in Shenmen and not elsewhere in the world, so once you're playing the campaign it'll all be handled.

Beyond that, for character creation and the like, the concept of what is "common" and "uncommon" and "rare" is beyond the scope of an adventure anyway, and the original idea was that this would be part of the Tian Xia hardcover books that originally were going to come out at about the same time as this Adventure Path. Alas, the OGL disaster back in January and the resulting remaster made that impossible and we had to shift the two hardcover books to next year.

As a result, there'll be a "band-aid" to fix this for "Season of Ghosts" in the meantime in the form of the Season of Ghosts Player's Guide. We don't recategorize everything into new rarity categories, but instead we specifically spell out what uncommon items are unlocked for PCs to choose from when they create their characters. So, those items remain uncommon and rare but we do, for example, state in the text of the Player's Guide that you can get a katana or a fighting fan or a daikyu when you're creating your character.

If anyone's looking for a more asian-sounding name for Willowshore, Google Translate gives me the following:

Chinese: Liǔ àn
Japanese: U~irōshoa (sounds like ee-ROW-shee-a, not sure if the "U-" is a mistake or not)
Vietnamese: Bờ liễu

The other asian languages I could think of just sounded like "Willowshore"; I don't think it could handle the translations.

For my part, I like "Irōshoa". I might use that in my game.

If anyone's looking for a more asian-sounding name for Willowshore, Google Translate gives me the following:

Chinese: Liǔ àn
Japanese: U~irōshoa (sounds like ee-ROW-shee-a, not sure if the "U-" is a mistake or not)
Vietnamese: Bờ liễu

The other asian languages I could think of just sounded like "Willowshore"; I don't think it could handle the translations.

For my part, I like "Irōshoa". I might use that in my game.

Those are all good suggestions! I went back and forth on whether to call the town something like "Willowshore" and something that was more "Asian-sounding" but decided to stick with Willowshore for two reasons:

1) It'll be easier to remember for most of our readers.
2) Shenmen isn't meant to be exclusively inspired by any one real-world region; it (and the themes and names throughout Season of Ghosts) draws inspiration from all over Asia, including (but not limited to) Japan, China, Korea, and more. By naming the core town that is at the heart of the entire Adventure Path, I avoid the implication that any one inspirational tradition or history was more favored than another.

Quick question, since this is out around the same time as the Remastered books. Will this be written as Remastered, or as 2E?

Quick question, since this is out around the same time as the Remastered books. Will this be written as Remastered, or as 2E?

Season of Ghosts is an OGL 2nd Edition Pathfinder Adventure Path. The adventure path line will be running "behind" the rulebook line when it comes to remastering by a few months; none of the adventures or Adventure Paths we've announced so far will be written as Remastered products.

They'll still be fully compatable and usable with the Remastered rules; you as the GM will just need to understand the differences when they crop up is all if you wanna run Season of Ghosts or others using the Remaster rules.

Why? Because we're developing and writing Season of Ghosts before and during the time that the Rules team is doing the remaster work, so the remaster rules simply wern't available for us to use in a finalized form during writing and development of Season of Ghosts. It's not ideal, but again... it's still 2nd edition Pathfinder so it'll still work.

Its nice for me since it means alignment is still present for now yay :'D

(hey, its genuinely useful shorthand for npcs where only small amount of info exists about them...)

If anyone's looking for a more asian-sounding name for Willowshore, Google Translate gives me the following:

Chinese: Liǔ àn
Japanese: U~irōshoa (sounds like ee-ROW-shee-a, not sure if the "U-" is a mistake or not)
Vietnamese: Bờ liễu

The other asian languages I could think of just sounded like "Willowshore"; I don't think it could handle the translations.

For my part, I like "Irōshoa". I might use that in my game.

Be advised that Japanese one is just the English name Willowshore transliterated into kana. That's why the weird U- and the unlikely sounding 'shoa' ending.

Yanagi seems to be a Japanese word for willow and kaigan for shore. Probably better ways to combine those than I can find right now

I'm back and I've got some names for you which might almost pass as vaguely Japanese but please don't take for being actual or plausible.

As mentioned 'yanagi' seems to be the best translation for 'willow'. 'Shore' has a dozen synonyms (much like coast/beach/shore in English) but I don't know enough to know their different meanings so I'm going to pick only the ones that sound best to me.

Yanagi-no-Kaigan or Yanagi-no-Kishi would be something like "Willow's Shore" or "Seashore of the Willows", so probably too wordy and likely too long for many groups.

Yanagiriku takes another synonym for shore. In a pinch 'yanagi' might shorten to 'yagi' for Yagiriku.

Yagikaigan and Yagikishi on the same line of thought.

Yanagibe or Yagibe omits the shoreline for a more 'place name' sounding ending.

Finally, I notice that 'nagisa' (another water's edge word) shares two syllables with yanagi, so Yanagisa might be a cheeky way to put in a portmanteau.

Oh, and while I'm at it, 'ryuu' is the sound-reading of willow, (no surprise given it's probably based on the Chinese liu above) so if you don't like the way yanagi rolls off your tongue, Ryuukaigan/Ryuugan are probably your best bets.

To the people who live there, it is Willowshore anyway, no matter what language they use. For them, the meaning is clear.

To the people who live there, it is Willowshore anyway, no matter what language they use. For them, the meaning is clear.

This point should not be overlooked. As fun as it msy be coming up with a name by cobbling together some east Asian phonemes, at the end of the day, neither Daggermark nor Carrion Hill are likely named that in English in the setting, either; the same holds true for Willowshore.

Given the proximity to Hwanggot, I might reach for a Korean name before a Japanese one… but Willowshore works just fine, especially as a place where a Nagaji or Samsaran might call home.

If anyone's looking for a more asian-sounding name for Willowshore, Google Translate gives me the following:

Chinese: Liǔ àn
Japanese: U~irōshoa (sounds like ee-ROW-shee-a, not sure if the "U-" is a mistake or not)
Vietnamese: Bờ liễu

The other asian languages I could think of just sounded like "Willowshore"; I don't think it could handle the translations.

For my part, I like "Irōshoa". I might use that in my game.

For Korean, there are a lot of options. My personal choice would be Boedul Haean.

Still a bit out of sorts that we won't get the book with the new Tian races until AFTER this AP is out, seems like an odd choice...

BUT I'm still looking forward to grabbing this~

Still a bit out of sorts that we won't get the book with the new Tian races until AFTER this AP is out, seems like an odd choice...

BUT I'm still looking forward to grabbing this~

I mean, we've already got Kitsune, Nagaji, Tengu, Vanaras, Vishkanya, and Ysoki. The Small Fetchlings can serve as Wayangs until we get them properly, and a Duskwalker's mechanics can passably emulate a Samsaran until they come along.

Things are a lot better-scaffolded than they could be!

Still a bit out of sorts that we won't get the book with the new Tian races until AFTER this AP is out, seems like an odd choice...

BUT I'm still looking forward to grabbing this~

These books were supposed to be out now, but the sudden need to put Remaster out threw the publishing schedule in disarray.

I'm hyped! It's been a couple of years since I ran an AP and I hope they put out some interviews or teaser content for this. I ran Extinction Curse and some of the interviews with the developers gave some interesting insight. Since we're after Gencon and right before the remaster I'm not sure we'll get it though. There's some interesting things going on with this being a four part adventure and taking place in the past. Additionally it would be good to know some guidance or thoughts for running a horror story in a heroic system. Regardless I'm excited.

I'm hyped! It's been a couple of years since I ran an AP and I hope they put out some interviews or teaser content for this. I ran Extinction Curse and some of the interviews with the developers gave some interesting insight. Since we're after Gencon and right before the remaster I'm not sure we'll get it though. There's some interesting things going on with this being a four part adventure and taking place in the past. Additionally it would be good to know some guidance or thoughts for running a horror story in a heroic system. Regardless I'm excited.

We'll for sure have more to say about Season of Ghosts SOON.

Will the Players Guide be coming this or next week by any chance?

Will the Players Guide be coming this or next week by any chance?

The harrow deck indicates next week.

Nice

When will the Season of Ghosts Player's Guide be available?

When will the Season of Ghosts Player's Guide be available?

Take a quick peek two posts above you.

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

Yes, Sigil has been contracted for the conversion work and the plan is to release on street date.

Given that there won’t be a set of pawns for the AP, I’m trying to decide if it would be worth the shelf space to pick up the pawn set for Fists of the Ruby Phoenix to get some Tian Xia-based creatures and NPCs. Would anyone who has seen the art on those pawns care to comment?

I’m planning to buy the Jade Regent Bestiary paper minis set (PDF only) for the same reason, although I suspect that most of those creatures ended up in one of pawn sets for the 1E Bestiaries, all of which I already have. At $3.99, it’s worth it even if I only use a couple of them.

Looking forward to this AP, but I do have to ask what's going with the download sizes? The PDF for this is over 150 mb and the last two chapters of Sky Kings were over 100 mb.

Typo on page 4: "season of shosts"

For anyone with this one, mind sharing the beasties within?

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

I'm over six months late with this reply, but yes. Yes, it will.

Typo on page 4: "season of shosts"

Should be "Season of Shorts" since it starts in summer.

For anyone with this one, mind sharing the beasties within?

Man, got the PDF yesterday and I love the twist in this one. I think I'm going to wait for the Tian Xia Lost Omens books to come out before I run this one, but I can't wait to see what my players say.

Man, got the PDF yesterday and I love the twist in this one. I think I'm going to wait for the Tian Xia Lost Omens books to come out before I run this one, but I can't wait to see what my players say.

Yup, that shot it right to the top of my list for "must play" APs.

Eager to hear how folks enjoy this Adventure Path! And as folks are seeing, there's some BIG plot twists in this one, so please let's all try to keep a lid on them as long as we can so that potential players can discover the surprises in play. Thanks, all!

NerdOver9000 wrote:

Man, got the PDF yesterday and I love the twist in this one. I think I'm going to wait for the Tian Xia Lost Omens books to come out before I run this one, but I can't wait to see what my players say.

Yup, that shot it right to the top of my list for "must play" APs.

Thirded.

Yeah, I'm very impressed. This seems exceptional.

That all sounds awesomely great. Here is hoping I can play it one day, preferably before the twist becomes common knowledge on these boards.

What I love most about The Twist is that it gave me what I had suspected in a manner that I did not see coming until I read it. Well done!

Hi, I was curious how people were already able to read the adventure path already. I don't mind waiting but I've been super excited for this adventure for a while lol.

Hi, I was curious how people were already able to read the adventure path already. I don't mind waiting but I've been super excited for this adventure for a while lol.

I suspect they were subscribers who got access to the PDF once their order had been shipped.

Just got my subscriber copy of the PDF and I haven't been able to stop reading it!

What an incredible Adventure Path concept. This is the first Adventure Path that I feel is better served by PF2E than 1e.

The setting is incredible, the pacing is probably some of the best I've seen in a low-level Pathfinder adventure, the theme tone and sense of place really shines through in every encounter and location. Downtime rules are integrated really well.

Then the plot! Wow! I read the introduction and immediately told my players to avoid all spoilers for this adventure path because it's been added to the "Run It" List. Which outside of Kingmaker 2e, is the first 2nd Edition Adventure Path I've read which I want to run.

I have a strong feeling Season of Ghosts is going to become one of those All-Time Classic APs that join the ranks of Kingmaker, Skull & Shackles and Hells Rebels for all-time excellence.

I'm a bit late to the whole naming thing, but when I ran Fists of the Ruby Phoenix, I simply declared Common to be Tien, and that, although we as players were speaking English, the characters were speaking the equivalents in Tien.

Unless all the players speak the same real-life East Asian language to roughly the same proficiency, translation is over-roleplaying, IMO. I found a few words sprinkled here and there (I do speak a real-life East Asian language) to be sufficiently immersive. For the most part, I as a player say the English word "Willowshore," and my characters hear and say it in whatever language they speak, and that's fine, IMO.

Can't wait to run this. Finally an adventure revolting around single location and hexploration.

When can we expect FoundryVTT modules being released?

The Foundry modules typically release on release day at about 11 AM Pacific.