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Well we say a fond/sad farewell to the Shadow Lodge and the Lantern Lodge.
<insert singing auld lang syne here>
While I agree with what they said on the Pod Cast that perhaps too many factions were causing a headache per say, I still think certain demoraphics are missing.
The Pathfinder Society has become more than just a group of explorers and Seekers of Secrets per say, I personally see it as having become a polictical machine spreading it's influence across the lands, not just the inner sea coastlines.
The society, if it can make friends out of local and regional adminstrative powers, then begins to wield an influence through said rulers to further the Society's aims and goals as a whole. Surely this goes on at the the higher levels. With that said, other powers surely have to note that the influence and globe spanning political power of the society can be utlized as well or duplicated either with their own organizations or as factions within the Society with the aims at protecting their own regional interests and power bases. Thats why the present factions exist, Taldor, Qadira etc etc.
The factions as is are very Human oriented. This was pointed out in the Podcast chat due to the inner sea region being so humanocentric. While I agree with this truth for the Inner Sea coastline, we all know the Pathfinder Society is by no means limited to inner sea coast.
And Humans, however dominate are not the only organized centric race on the face of Golarion that would seek to represent itself. There presently seems to be a hole within the society. Only individuals, by themselves, from other races are seen, representing not their own people or countries but just random adventurers. Are the humans are the only ones who wish to use the Society represent their own interests?
So I could see other "Major" races also wishing to utilize the slowly growing influence of the Society to further or protect their own interests just the same as Cheliax or Andoran.
The Kingdom of the Elves of Kyonin and the Dwarves of the 5 Kingdoms comes to mind.
Here we have 2 major races that each wield regional power similar or identicle to any country. And with the history of both, the worries of being pushed back by the hordes of humanity, or the protecting of their own incredibly ancient artifacts, lore and legends, I could see a real desire from the 2 racial regional powers to want to look after their own interests and use the Society as well to wield influence in addition to their more standard forms of politcal heirarchies.
These 2 races very much represent real large powers, they have real fears of the growing powers and expansion of humanity at their expense, they have legends, artifacts and secrets each older than mankind itself and would wish to protect them. Sure they would use standard political mechanisms of their governments, but I could see them each wanting to put their own people into this suddenly emerging political body that is the Pathfinder Society.
If not as individual factions, then perhaps a sort of alliance between the two and forming one. A sort of joint effort also designed to spearhead the effort to quell the ancient animosity between the two.
Now while I realise there are more races than just the elves and Dwarves, the other demi human races are rather scattered or absorbed into the nationalities of larger societies (countries) The Halflings dont have their own homelands, nor the gnomes etc etc. The lands of Kyonin and the 5 Kingdoms are different. Here they have each maintained a homeland specific to their people and race. Perhaps even those other demi human races, such as fey, or allies of the dwarves could as well be represented within this one or two faction idea.
Thoughts?
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I'm pretty sure the bottom line is that more factions means more word count, and word count spent on factions is word count that doesn't go to the rest of the scenario.
I have found the Season 4 scenarios to be much more interesting and fun from a RP perspective. If the trade-off for that is less factions, then take my Sczarni--please.
It sounds like the only way we'd be getting new factions is if they replace one of the ones that's left. But that's also a logistical nightmare, so I doubt you'll see it any time soon.
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I think Paizo wants less factions, not more. LL and SL are gone, but M+M indicated that more factions could be removed in the next year depending on each faction's popularity.
So in my opinion, there is no chance for a dwarf or elf faction. Perhaps there would be a small chance if they replaced one of the current factions in season 6+, but that seems unlikely to me for various reasons. A new dwarf/elf faction would probably be the lowest population faction and then be culled.
What I recommend is that you roleplay a elf/dwarf contingent within Silver Crusade (or whatever faction you choose). Sure, it's not official but it's a fun detail that adds to your PC and roleplay.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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This does remind me of an idea that I had regarding the Lamplighter posts - it could be fun for PCs to get together on the boards and create meta-factions - informal groups of PCs that work towards common goals in scenarios or do certain things, even if it's not explicitly stated in the scenario. A hall of dwarves would fit nicely as one of those.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Do you think that five factions is too few, or do you think that they were just the wrong five factions at the time?
I'll take a stab at this. One of the big problems with the original 5 factions, when I was first coming into PFS, was their national alignment. As a new player, Taldor, Andoran and Cheliax mean nothing to me. If I'm taking a trait from another region, why would I be working for a nation that I am not a part of? It makes sense to me *now*, but it did not when I was building my first character.
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I'm a third. I actually hate that so many of the factions are region-based and not political/ideals. I still agree that the time had come for Lantern and Shadow Lodges, as their ideals were not that interesting (I mean, try explaining what the Lantern Lodge was about to a new player...). Still, I wish more of the factions were like Sczarni or Silver Crusade. Factions based on ideas and not land masses.
Races is not the correct solution though, in my opinion. The Inner Sea World Guide has many cool organizations. One of the many magical academies would be very neat. Kaer Maga has a lot of super neat organizations within its walls as well. I'd love a pirate-y organization from the Shackles for one of my characters. Sure, we can just SAY that our characters belong to those in their background and fluff, but it would be neat for other groups to have interests in the Pathfinder Society.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Agreed, Mike.
But there is something to be said for those strong concepts actually getting some play.
In a home campaign, I can announce that I'm a Molthunan prince, on the lam from an aunt who intends me ill to mess up the order of succession. Another PC can announce that he's my bodyguard, personally loyal to me over the corrupt commands of the bewitched king.
In a home campaign, it would be great for the GM to do something with that, to make sure that agents of the Dark Duchess pop up now and again. If it's enough of a sandbox campaign, we may even have cast a vote for one of the villains. It would be pretty lame for the GM to ignore the entire thing.
In an organized play campaign, the prince-on-the-lam and his bodyguard are just backstory; hell, we might just be two guys making pretend. It will never show up in the campaign, ever. Same with Sajan's missing sister or Seyetiel's vengeance.
At least with the factions, we can have interplay with those character concepts, if we choose one of the 10 approved concepts.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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The second-wave faction that impressed me the least was the Sczarni.
I've had a couple people drop into Pathfinder Scenario, having already played through Rise of the Runelords or read a Pathfinder Tales novel or two, really looking forward to playing Varisian gypsies, only to find out, much to their disappointment, that the Sczarni in PFS are just organized crime.
And boring organized crime, at that.
You know who single-handedly saved the Sczarni faction for me? Jim Groves. He gave them two terrific faction missions in the Golden Serpent and Green Market.* I really want to see where this subplot is going now, and I hope to see it advanced in Season 5. Meanwhile, I really want a chance to run my Sczarni dhampyr cleric through Cult of the Ebon destroyers.
* I had a flashback to an old Spider-man plot arc where the Kingpin finds out that his son has been scheming with the Red Skull. He is really not amused. Organized Crime is one thing, but Nazis?!