Season 4 GM Resources

[Dragnmoon]

With season 4 set in Varisia there are some great resources out there for GMs to look through to add more detail to their Season 4 games. By far this has been the season I have most looked forward into running due to the many resources available that I can use to add so much more depth into my PFS games. I decided to make a list of those resources for PFS GMs. Some of these books are major resources while other only have a paragraph or two. I am going to separate them so GMs can see the difference while trying to list good sections in them. Though my goal is to make this list exhaustive I may have missed some stuff, feel free to add what you think I missed. There are also books coming in the future that may fit on this list but since I do not know their usefulness I did not add them.

These 4 books in my opinion are the major resources for Season 4, all of these I think GMs would gain a lot from reading them. The entirety of these books are useful.

• Guide to Korvosa
  
• City of Strangers
  
• Magnimar City of Monuments
  
• Varisia Birthplace of Legends

Here is a list of resources though are not specific to Varisia or not something you can get something from every page, they still have some useful information.

Adventure Paths

These Adventure Paths are full set in Varisia and are chuck of of tidbits GMs may be able to use. I will point out specific articles that are of use.

Rise of the Runelords

• Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition - Sandpoint, Magnimar, Turtleback Ferry, Xin-Shalast
  
• Burnt Offerings – Thassilon
  
• The Hook Mountain Massacre – Varisia
  
• Spires of Xin-Shalast – Karzoug the Claimer

Curse of the Crimson Throne

• Edge of Anarchy – People of the Road
  
• A History of Ashes – The Cinderlands, People of the Storval Plateau

Shattered Star

Second Darkness - Though not fully set in Varisia there are a couple of useful articles.

• Shadow in the Sky - Riddleport City of Cyphers
  
• The Armageddon Echo – Celwynvian

Campaign Setting

• Dungeons of Golarion - Hollow Mountain
  
• Inner Sea World Guide
  
• Lost Cities of Golarion - Xin-Shalast
  
• Lost Kingdoms - Thassilon

Player Companion

• Pirates of the Inner Sea - Riddleport
  
• Inner Sea Primer

The following resources only have a few good tidbits, as much as a page or 2 or as little as a paragraph.

Campaign Setting

• Faction Guide - Varisian Wanderers
  
• Inner Sea Magic - Thassilonian Magic, Acadamae, The Harrowed Society

Player Companion

• Elves of Golarion
  
• Gnomes of Golarion
  
• Goblins of Golarion
  
• Halflings of Golarion
  
• Humans of Golarion
  
• Orcs of Golarion
  
• Blood of Angels
  

Here is a list of Modules that are set in Varisia or fits well.

• The Godsmouth Heresy
  
• We Be Goblins
  
• Feast of Ravenmoor
  Boon:

  This has an excellent Boon that would be useful throughout much of season 4
  
  
• Dawn of the Scarlet Sun
  
• The Harrowing - Though not really called out as set in Varisia, it none the less would fit in well.
  
• Academy of Secrets

Here are a List of Maps GMs will find useful

• Rise of the Runelords Map Folio – Map of Magnimar, Map of Varisia, Map of Sandpoint
  
• Curse of the Crimson Throne Map Folio - Map of Korvosa, Map of Varisia
  
• Second Darkness Map Folio – Map of Riddleport
  
• Guide to Korvosa - Map of Korvosa
  
• Inner Sea Poster Map Folio

Feel free to add anything I missed

[Paz]

For those on a very tight budget, there are the adventure path player's guides, which are free to download:

Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide
Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide
Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition Player's Guide

[Jason S]

Nice list. Thank you.

[Red-Assassin]

Excellent list, excellent. I think I will read up on some forgotten books.

[Paz]

In Kobold Quarterly #22, there's an article called the 'Pathfinder Society Guide to Varisia' by Alex Greenshields. I don't have it, so I don't know how much it overlaps with information presented in other sources listed above.

[Horatio Burns]

Thanks for the lists.

[Dragnmoon]

What Pathfinder Tales Novels and Short Stories fit well for Season 4?

[Horatio Burns]

I believe Winter Witch by Elaine Cunningham starts out in Korvosa. Then it moves to Irrisen.

[GM Hands of Fate]

Question I have on the scenarios in season 4. Some of the colvers have a red "ribbon" with a red glowing sigil of the open road, some have the ribbon with a sihedron, and some don't have anything. What do these signify? I know in Season 3 there was the indication that they had something to do with the Ruby Phoenix tourney.

I did start to read Severing Ties, which has some connection to the Hin Jao tapestry from season 3, but I was wondering about other story arcs in season 4?

[Paz]

There's a blog by Mark Moreland about the season 4 metaplot here.

If you look at the list of season 4 scenarios, those strongly connected to the main story arc either have the Sihedron rune in the corner (e.g. In Wrath's Shadow) or the words 'Year of the Risen Rune' in small text above the title (e.g. The Cultist's Kiss), depending on whether they were released before or after the cover redesign.