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OK so let's face it, Andoran isn't going anywhere. It's by far the most popular faction. I don't think the Grand Lodge is going anywhere either because it gives an out to people who just want to play a Pathfinder.
As for the rest? Who knows? I am praying not Taldor or Lantern Lodge because two of my main characters are closely linked to these factions. It would break my heart to see these two factions go as it would make playing these two characters extraordinarily difficult.
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Surprised that Sczarni aren't on the chopping block. I've yet to see a single PC pick that faction. Is there some Sczarni player region I'm unaware of?
I'd say either Cheliax, Osirion, or Taldor from the leader correpondence. Of course it could only mean a change of faction leader. So it's only speculation and Mark^2 might be messing with us.
About those "Legitimate businessmen" in your party offering you opportunities for housing development in the Puddles District...
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I've sat at a table with 4 Sczarni PCs. Kind of like taking a trip to Jersey...
and they all talked with that Jersey accent.
I played my Sczarni pirate, Xan Stormblade, in "Cyphermage Dilemma" with Rene Duquesnoy as my GM. When he learned that she was *from* Riddleport, some of the interactions with NPCs were very funny.
"Yo, Xan, how *you* doin', babe? Welcome back ta town...sorry, but da boss says we gotta cack ya."
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We'll be making formal announcements in blog posts over the coming months for every topic on Mike's bulleted list, and it's likely folks who do listed to the podcast will post about them on the message boards before we make those blog posts. But since the show is recorded live, by viewing it and joining in the conversation, you may have the ability (at the podcast's discretion) to direct questions to those of us in campaign HQ as part of the interview.
We LOVE live questions!
Our show will air live on our YouTube channel:
We use the comments as our live chat. We will get the audio in our feed soon after, but the video will be available to watch after the live show almost immediately.
I would promise to post the details, but I'm sure one of you will beat me to it!
And if it helps, I will be just as surprised as you guys!
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Wow! So much speculation. Since folks are doubtlessly eager to know if their guesses are correct, I'll spoil something for you here.
** spoiler omitted **
More tomorrow night!
Woooo! Whoooo!
Thassalonian Specialist will be legal...
That was what we're talking about right?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Synthesist Faction got cut.
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I'm assuming Lantern Lodge is getting the cut. They were kinda popular in season 3 when they were new, and then everyone quit playing them when they realized how boring the faction actually is.
Remember, it's based on the playing numbers of season 4 scenarios only. Based on that, I've personally played 5 scenarios with a Taldor PC, 4 with 3 different Silver Crusaders, 1 with a Qadiran, and 1 with a Sczarni. I've also applied one GM credit each to a Grand Lodge and an Osirion. Yes, I've personally gotten season 4 credit on 8 different PCs... so far.
I actually have at least one PC in every faction, theoretically. I actually haven't gotten around to creating the Cheliax PC yet, though he's already level 2 on GM credits. But I've done a lot of Cheliax faction missions in the past - my Shadow Lodge character is level 14, and I played a whole lot of season 2 scenarios with him. I only put that new PC in Cheliax because I didn't already have a Chelish PC - it's not really tied that closely to his back story like some of the others.
But personally, I'm hoping the disappearing factions are Lantern Lodge and Grand Lodge, though I know GL won't happen, just due to excessive newbies joining it by default. So Osirion would be my next choice.
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My prediction:
Osirion (for sure) and Qadira OR Sczarni get the axe.
Cheliax gets a new Faction leader.
I disagree with those that say Lantern Lodge is the most boring with ill-defined goals. Currently they have a faction leader who is massively in debt and is trying to resurrect some ancient Tien order named the Way of the Kirin to supplement the Society's efforts - stuff is happening there! I would like to see Amara's personality get fleshed out a little more.
Exciting!
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Ehh there are some factions at each others throats(which I think is awesome). Then there are a bunch of factions that are just there. Like the sczarni, taldor, latern lodge. I do not see these factions as part of a war so much as pusuing self interests. You could easily play Silver crusade and not worry in the slightest about any in-fighting.
I feel grand lodge and latern lodge as the two I would like see gone as well. Judging it by PP would be unfair since many DMs force pregen into grand lodge.
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Please begin the podcast by stating which factions are going to go, and or have a shake up.
I would hate to see The Paracountess go. If she did, I would hope to be able to do anything I could to restore her to power. I am not even sure if I would want her promoted if that meant I no longer got to see and hear from her.
Hope all the hard work I did for Osirion pays off.
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@Kodger: I believe it was stated, during the early warning announcements, that you could keep the trait (grandfathered).
My own vote, from personal and somewhat distasteful experience, would be to nix both Cheliax and Taldor.
Neither faction runs toward the cooperate portion of the spectrum, Cheliax tends toward the unsuitable for a public location spectrum, and PCs of both factions tend to make me, as a player (not to mention as a GM) want to summon the high-tier statue from Severing Ties and have the Cheliax/Taldan PCs submit.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I'm hoping it's not Taldor. I've always felt they got a bum rap.
/Begin Rant
One of the things that attracted me to Taldor was its precarious nature. Taldor is written in flux, having the potential of myriad possibilities. Will it rise from the ashes, to recover its former glory? Or will it continue its slow slide to oblivion, to join other lost empires in the ashes of history? Will Princess Eutropia unite the bearded under her reign as an empress, or will she see Taldor flare into a ‘hot’ civil war, instead of the petty skirmishes? Will the bearless rise as they have elsewhere? Or will tales of their neighbor’s revolts in Galt, and the oppression by the gilded merchants of Andoran keep them in line? Will Taldor honor the peace with Qadria, or will some hot headed noble plunge them into war?
And the character concepts it brings to the Society! Beardless peasants trying to make their fame to join the Bearded class; bastard sons, third and fourth sons making their fortunes; nobles fleeing social embarrassment; scimitar wielding monks of the Monastery of the Seven Forms (That desperately need an archtype); Nobles in name only, claming titles and lands from Galt, Isiger and Andoran, despite never having set foot in those lands; Members of the Brotherhood of Silence trying to use the Society like the Scarzini do…
And those are off the top of my head.
But that never gets exposed to anyone. Heck even in First Steps, you get to interact with all the faction heads, but Lady Morilla you never talk to directly, and she then gives you a mission right away. Even the ‘missions’ given by the other factions in pt 1 come from the Lodge, not from the factions themselves!
End rant.
Taldor also suffers from not being easily defined in a sentence. Andoran is “Eagleland, freedom baby!” Cheliax is “Evil is sexy!” Shadow Lodge is “The People standing up to the Man!” Osiron is “Egypt, Pathfinder style!” How do you (positively) sum up Taldor in one sentence?
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Taldor also suffers from not being easily defined in a sentence. Andoran is “Eagleland, freedom baby!” Cheliax is “Evil is sexy!” Shadow Lodge is “The People standing up to the Man!” Osiron is “Egypt, Pathfinder style!” How do you (positively) sum up Taldor in one sentence?
"Everything is fine!"
"Nothing to worry about!""I do this for Taldor!"
You have hit on a lot of the reasons that most of my PFS characters are Taldor. I understand if they're not a popular faction, but I would hate to see them go. I find it much easier to come up with cool character concepts from Taldor than other places.
(I totally have the non-Bearded character trying to become bearded. My Taldan sailor is a witch, and as soon as he has enough prestige to become a noble, he will also gain the prehensile hair hex since he then has permission to grow a beard.)
I won't be impressed if either Lanturn Lodge or Silver Crusade get removed, because they're some of the only factions available that don't have chaotic or evil influences.
If they both get removed because they "just don't seem relevant" (oh, but LE Cheliax and NE/CE Sczarni are), I'll probably just take a break from playing, because both my characters will realistically just leave the Society at that point.
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Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
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I won't be impressed if either Lanturn Lodge or Silver Crusade get removed, because they're some of the only factions available that don't have chaotic or evil influences.
If they both get removed because they "just don't seem relevant" (oh, but LE Chelax and NE/CE Sczarni are), I'll probably just take a break from playing, because both my characters will realistically just leave the Society at that point.
The Society is officially a neutral organization, even though most tables are fairly LG. Silver Crusade won't get eliminated; I am curious, though, why you feel as strongly about Lantern Lodge? I don't feel that it is strictly a LG organization. I would say LN to true N, since they don't have explicitly Good goals - they have their own interest in mind.
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11 x 6 is only 66. Just to help you figure out why your numbers seemed so far off.but, are they all his? Like I said, I have an Andoran 6 total, and have never had an Andoran character...He's level 12, having just completed Eyes part 1.
So 11x6= 72
-2 cause he has a module on him= 70
-1 cause his first session was Masters of the Fallen Fortress= 69
+X where X= the number EotT1 gives you...Hmmm...I dont remember missing that many faction missions. Gonna have to recheck this...
It's times like this that make me think it might be a bad thing that I work in a bank. :/
So 66-2-1+1 (that I got from Eyes1)=64.
61/64 ~ 95%
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Personaly I'll be upset if Osirion goes but I can't see any way of preventing it. We were told quite clearly at the beginning of the season that our faction was in trouble and given no opportunity to save it.
Actually, we were told that the way to save the ailing factions--and we were not told which ones were ailing--was to go out and play our favorite characters as much as possible, because activity would determine which faction(s) went away.
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I'm surprised at all the people thinking Sczarni will get the boot (probably because my main character is Sczarni). It's the default faction for any roguish character.
In my area I usually see a lot of Cheliax, Andoran, Silver Crusade, and Osirion. I only ever see Lantern Lodge when someone is playing a Ninja/Samurai. I can't recall ever seeing Taldor, and the only Shadow Lodge character I can think of is one I play. Grand Lodge is obviously the default for new players... And... Hmm... That's only 9...
Aha! Qadira. I actually had to look that up. So, my votes are for Qadira and Taldor, judging by the lack of players I've seen from those factions in my area.
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But my real prediction is that all Season Zero scenarios will be requested to be removed from future play. There's no good in continuing adventures set 5 years ago, with different factions and different adversaries. The challenge ratings are ridiculous and the overall feel, to me, anyways, just isn't the same as the newer ones.
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But my real prediction is that all Season Zero scenarios will be requested to be removed from future play. There's no good in continuing adventures set 5 years ago, with different factions and different adversaries. The challenge ratings are ridiculous and the overall feel, to me, anyways, just isn't the same as the newer ones.
I was all for this, but then I played Eyes of the Ten.
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Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
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I'm surprised at all the people thinking Sczarni will get the boot (probably because my main character is Sczarni). It's the default faction for any roguish character.
In my area I usually see a lot of Cheliax, Andoran, Silver Crusade, and Osirion. I only ever see Lantern Lodge when someone is playing a Ninja/Samurai. I can't recall ever seeing Taldor, and the only Shadow Lodge character I can think of is one I play. Grand Lodge is obviously the default for new players... And... Hmm... That's only 9...
Aha! Qadira. I actually had to look that up. So, my votes are for Qadira and Taldor, judging by the lack of players I've seen from those factions in my area.
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But my real prediction is that all Season Zero scenarios will be requested to be removed from future play. There's no good in continuing adventures set 5 years ago, with different factions and different adversaries. The challenge ratings are ridiculous and the overall feel, to me, anyways, just isn't the same as the newer ones.
Obviously, there's a lot of regional variation. Locally, the default faction is Shadow Lodge, with substantial numbers of Grand Lodge, Cheliax and Andoran. We have a handful of Taldor and Sczarni PCs too.
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Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
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I am curious. I see differences of opinion on which factions should be removed.
Does anyone think that no faction should be removed?
(I do not. I do think at least two factions should go.)
Personally, I really only think that one faction should go - Lantern Lodge - simply because its schtick is over and it really doesn't have very well defined goals in the Society any more. However, for the sake of printing, I realize that two have to go. I am a bit disappointed, since I do like the flavor of all of the different factions, even if it means a bit of extra work as a GM.