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I've started reading the downloadable PDF about Society gaming as well as looking on the messageboards. I'm really impressed with the game concept of a cold war among 5 factions battling for control of the city. Where can I find out more information about this ongoing conflict and see which faction is currently 'winning'? Is there some sort of scoreboard and how are scores kept? I haven't been able to find this sort of information to date and I'm intrigued.
Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.
I've started reading the downloadable PDF about Society gaming as well as looking on the messageboards. I'm really impressed with the game concept of a cold war among 5 factions battling for control of the city. Where can I find out more information about this ongoing conflict and see which faction is currently 'winning'? Is there some sort of scoreboard and how are scores kept? I haven't been able to find this sort of information to date and I'm intrigued.
Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.
There is no official conflict and there is no scoreboard. When the Pathfinder Society was first started a little over two years ago with Season 0, one of the things they were playing with was the competition between the Factions. But, like other experimental things, this was dropped when the Pathfinder RPG rules were released last year and the finalized system for the PFS went into place with the start of Season 1. And now Season 2 is here and it is being called the Year of the Shadow Lodge. I do not know the details yet on how this is going to work, and I am sure someone who has played some of the events will chime in, but I think it is some sort of secret group within the PFS that the members of the 5 Factions will have to band together to defeat.
As to players of different Factions working together, most do it to some degree and some cooperate more than others. Just remember that the PFS has a no player-versus-player rule and actively interfering in another player's Faction mission is generally frowned upon also.
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As Enevhar said, there is no active pvp conflict allowed, including derailing faction missions. However, many of the faction missions require secrecy, and some GM's may wish you to not be TOO blatant about inter-faction co-operation.
I am surprised that you haven't had people jumping on this thread and talking about how super-awesome their faction is. Which is good, because it would all be self-serving lies. Unless they're from Qadira ;)
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As Enevhar said, there is no active pvp conflict allowed, including derailing faction missions. However, many of the faction missions require secrecy, and some GM's may wish you to not be TOO blatant about inter-faction co-operation.
I am surprised that you haven't had people jumping on this thread and talking about how super-awesome their faction is. Which is good, because it would all be self-serving lies. Unless they're from Qadira ;)
The main people I play with in this area are largely Osirion, but there has been a recent influx of Andoran (who doesn't love freedom?) which makes me happy. My character's main traveling companion is Osirion, but as we have traveled together over time we have both been willing to help each other out completing faction missions as long as they are not 'secret' in nature. We also have an understanding of tasks which 'require privacy.' For my next character I'm taking Qadira out for a spin.
I'm not sure how true it is, but my impression from the mods I have played and the few that I have read/run is that Taldor and Cheliax both have more 'don't let anyone know you did this' type of missions.
Just remember the three most important Pathfinder Society member duties: Explore, report and cooperate. :)
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Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.
I primarily play in a home group, not at conventions, so there is a fair degree of cooperation. Of course, I have yet to see a module where the faction goals were significantly in conflict.
The Living Arcanis campaign had similar intrigue with secret societies and player goals were often in conflict. This led to PvP combat on more than one occasion, although Living Arcanis also had a no player versus player combat rule.
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The Living Arcanis campaign had similar intrigue with secret societies and player goals were often in conflict. This led to PvP combat on more than one occasion, although Living Arcanis also had a no player versus player combat rule.
When player goals are often in conflict, players themselves often come into conflict. On more than one occasion I have seen players I previously respected come to blows with their GM or other players, and leave the table mid-game over Secret Society goals in Living Arcanis. If I never see this happen in Pathfinder Society, it will be too soon!
I think non-conflicting faction missions, no player-vs-player conflict, and no interefering with other's faction missions rules are something Pathfinder Society has learned from previous campaigns, and something they are doing right! Pathfinder Society does not need the kind of attention such displays bring to the game.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.
During Season 0, my original character concept was an anti-hero, a former Chelish slave who fought against his oppressors secretly from within by working as a Chelish faction member, but deliberately sabotaging his own missions.
Although this was a fun and intriguing concept for a home game, there was conflict of interests whenever another Chelish faction member played at the same table, and Josh himself said this was against the spirit of Organised Play.
On reflection, I agree it sets a bad example for other players, so changed my character concept as a former Chelish slave who uses his faction missions as a means to escape the drudgery of slave life and experience the wondrous locales beyond Chelish borders.
I still maintain my anti-hero status by befriending Andoran characters for their opposition to slavery, and Osirion characters out of curiosity for the lands and culture I was abducted from but never grew up to experience myself. Therefore I assist members of those factions in any way I can.
As a former slave, it's fun to unnerve Andoran characters by incessantly offering to carry their packs, or tend to their horses, slipping back into former slave habits.
A much more positive and co-operative approach than my original modus operandi, and ultimately better for the game.
Cheers,
Slip
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Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.During Season 0, my original character concept was an anti-hero, a former Chelish slave who fought against his oppressors secretly from within by working as a Chelish faction member, but deliberately sabotaging his own missions.
Although this was a fun and intriguing concept for a home game, there was conflict of interests whenever another Chelish faction member played at the same table, and Josh himself said this was against the spirit of Organised Play.
On reflection, I agree it sets a bad example for other players, so changed my character concept as a former Chelish slave who uses his faction missions as a means to escape the drudgery of slave life and experience the wondrous locales beyond Chelish borders.
I still maintain my anti-hero status by befriending Andoran characters for their opposition to slavery, and Osirion characters out of curiosity for the lands and culture I was abducted from but never grew up to experience myself. Therefore I assist members of those factions in any way I can.
As a former slave, it's fun to unnerve Andoran characters by incessantly offering to carry their packs, or tend to their horses, slipping back into former slave habits.
A much more positive and co-operative approach than my original modus operandi, and ultimately better for the game.
Cheers,
Slip
OK, that's a fun concept.
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I've started reading the downloadable PDF about Society gaming as well as looking on the messageboards. I'm really impressed with the game concept of a cold war among 5 factions battling for control of the city. Where can I find out more information about this ongoing conflict and see which faction is currently 'winning'? Is there some sort of scoreboard and how are scores kept? I haven't been able to find this sort of information to date and I'm intrigued.
Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.
Think about the Factions as more of a game flavor rather than a mechanic. While they are indeed a part of the overall mechanic of play with regard to Prestige Points they never supersede your Pathfinder goals. I tend to think of it as a good excuse to roleplay above and beyond the norm. Sometimes a faction mission may require a certain skill to achieve that your character may not possess. In those instances I like to find ways of getting others in the party to assist without sharing my actual intentions. I may state emphatically (If I have a high bluff check) that the Venture Captain in my region has asked me to seek out the item in question etc. There is no guarantee that the faction mission will succeed but a little creative thinking goes a long way.
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OK, that's a fun concept.
Please note: my intention wasn't to draw attention to Slip Season 0 as an anti-hero or encourage others to emulate his tactics. Rather I was trying to highlight his behaviour as against the spirit of, if not the actual Guidelines to, Organised Play, and how I overcame my initial concept to salvage a character who remains somewhat true to his initial concept and is still fun to play.
The only reason I mention him now is it seemed relevant to the original poster's enquiry re opposing faction missions and interesting anecdotes, and an example of how not to play.
Except for those faction missions where characters are supposed to keep their actions from the notice of others, Slip is happy to assist other faction members with skill checks.
Cheers,
Slip
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The Living Arcanis campaign had similar intrigue with secret societies and player goals were often in conflict. This led to PvP combat on more than one occasion, although Living Arcanis also had a no player versus player combat rule.
Actually, that went away in the last few years of the game in which they allowed PCs to, when judged within reason by the table GM,engage in PvP. It was a decision I was not at all happy about, because I had met several players who chose to act as bullies on a regular occasion before PvP was allowed often over something as petty as "your character concept offends my PC for X in character reason".
That PFS has built in, in character reasons to never engage in open conflict is something I really like. It keeps the political intrigue of factions present without opening up a slippery slope to people being jerks. I also like the sort of wink-wink nudge-nudge that occurs at some tables who all are aware others are working for different ends, but no one can come out and act against each other lest they blow their own cover.
