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I doubt I will ever fully drop Pathfinder. The world is incredibly well fleshed out, game play options are too numerous to even think about, and Paizo does an excellent job of creating Scenarios/AP's/Modules.
I doubt Season 6 will remain in Numeria for a great deal. I am personally looking forward to researching/travelling Numeria. I do hope we get back to Tian Xia sometime though. There is still so much more to explore there. Forest of Spirits, Minkai, Hwanggot the garden kingdom, Amanandar the Taldane Colony, etc.
DnD Next will of course pull some people away, any new system does that, but at least from talks in my own lodge, it will be very very few. Pathfinder simply has so much out right now for it.
It does seem that 12+ play is really starting to take off just as PFS is dropping it. For example, eight of the 45 PCs signed up for Race for the Runecarved Key at Conline this weekend are 13+.We're way overdue for more 12+ material, but I see why PFS is dropping it. Supporting four level bands is apparently tough enough.
So has it been officially announced Society is dropping support for post 11? Or are we inferring it from what we’ve seen?
If this is true, it is very disappointing. Where I know 11th level is fine for many (or maybe even most), I would very much like to see PFS continue to give support for high level play.
If this is official, I wonder how this would affect what has been discussed of a new Seeker arc.
Edit:
Wardens of the Reborn Forge module (lvl 12-14) has been out 6 months and it does not look like it's going to get sanctioned at all.
From yesterday’s blog, at the least, Wardens seems like it will be sanctioned.
So I guess it hasn’t been official by any means for less high level play, but still would like to see it’s support be stronger than what has been been happening.
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It looks like they are moving forward with sanctioning modules so some of my personal downers have been resolved.
I do enjoy reading what other people are looking forward to in the PFS world.
I ran Day of the Demon last night and I am actually excited to see how Tancrid and his army of killers is handled in a future scenario.
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I don't see where PFS should be worried about Next. Pathfinder itself might take a hit, but Paizo currently has a lock on Organized Play. LFR burned so many people so badly that simply releasing a new version of the rules in not going to change that. The only way Wizards could recapture their dominance is to prove they learned their lessons from LFR and it is going to take time to do that especially since one of the biggest problems with LFR was diminishing support for the campaign over time. This is a process that is going to take years if they can do it at all.
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Of course, John's blog did address a few of the OP's concerns today...
I've been thinking about this as well, and I expect that we'll run a bunch of non-Numeria stuff for those folks who don't want it. Perfect time to do a flashback season and do all the Shadow Lodge stuff from Season 1 and 2 that a lot of the new folks missed. Module-based campaigns as well - I've just been mapping out a Lovecraftian module campaign using the sanctioned mods from level 3-9 that will take the better part of a year and be about as different from Numeria as anything I can think of. I'll also be using the newly-sanctioned Mummy's Mask evergreen scenario as my con-bait, with some 3D terrain to attract new players to the Pathfinder Society.
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My perspective, as a long-time PFS player (and before that LG, and LC, and LD, and HOR, and...):
I've played since Year Zero, have a lot of high-level characters (a 10, three 11s, and a 17), and know, greatly respect, and have enjoyed playing with key folks in the campaign (Mike Brock, John Compton, and others). I do think I've "wound down" from PFS - I feel that there's a lot of rules bloat and power creep - but that has nothing to do with D&D 5E. Gamers just like change from time to time.
If 5E comes with an organized-play campaign, I'll certainly give it a shot. Would I "leave" PFS? Yes, if high-level support ceases, since I now have little interest in creating any new characters. I *would* like to trot out my high-levels from time to time (currently I play about once a month, down from 8-10 times a month in the heyday), play with old friends, and so on... but it's time for something new.
For fantasy RPG play, I'll probably switch to D&D5E - it's a good system - and when it (invariably) becomes bloated and unwieldy, hopefully Pathfinder 2 will be on the horizon. And so on, cyclicly.
I'm more keen on Shadowrun right now than anything, though!
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My perspective, as a long-time PFS player (and before thatgroup to LG, and LC, and LD, and HOR, and...):
I've played since Year Zero, have a lot of high-level characters (a 10, three 11s, and a 17), and know, greatly respect, and have enjoyed playing with key folks in the campaign (Mike Brock, John Compton, and others). I do think I've "wound down" from PFS - I feel that there's a lot of rules bloat and power creep - but that has nothing to do with D&D 5E. Gamers just like change from time to time.
If 5E comes with an organized-play campaign, I'll certainly give it a shot. Would I "leave" PFS? Yes, if high-level support ceases, since I now have little interest in creating any new characters. I *would* like to trot out my high-levels from time to time (currently I play about once a month, down from 8-10 times a month in the heyday), play with old friends, and so on... but it's time for something new.
For fantasy RPG play, I'll probably switch to D&D5E - it's a good system - and when it (invariably) becomes bloated and unwieldy, hopefully Pathfinder 2 will be on the horizon. And so on, cyclicly.
I'm more keen on Shadowrun right now than anything, though!
They did a good job with the new edition, but i find it's so hard to find a group to play with. The high fantasy genre (specifically d&d and pf) just seem to have such a monopoly on the pen and paper rpg market, both locally and online play. I ran a few sessions of sr missions but most the players didn't really like it so we moved to pfs. And I've yet to get into an sr game that lasted more than 2 sessions.
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Well, the Dark Sun successor Dragonkings is coming out any day now with a Pathfinder rules supplement. Should i ever grow tired of PFS things like that and the many AP´s i didn´t yet play as well as some amazing 3PP input can easily keep me and my friends busy.
Should the unlikely happen, something like Edge of the Empire is more probable though^^
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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I tend to steer clear of speculation threads, but I wanted to address what I think are some misconceptions.
A whole season based on a sci/fantasy hybrid seems to be a downer for many players, many players I talk to have no interest in this.
This is something I am very doubtful will happen.
The past three seasons have each had pretty obvious themes and overarching plots, but were still full of traditional fantasy gaming. Personally, Tian-Xia doesn't really interest me at all, but I still loved several of the scenarios that took place in Season 3. For example one of my favorite scenarios, The Immortal Conundrum, has nothing to do with the Ruby Phoenix Tournament at all and is #3-10.
It looks like support for 12+ characters is getting pulled, so this puts a damper for experienced players who have high level characters they love to play.Modules are not being sanctioned at this time, will they ever be sanctioned or is PFS pulling the plug on these too? This severely limits playing options for players who have played most of the sanctioned stuff already out there.
You can definitely throw me in the camp of people who have a few level 12+ characters and are almost tapped out on what they can play for credit. I spent an entire thread addressing this a while back, when the rules for replaying were clarified. After the dust has settled, the pick up game of Wrath of the Righteous I'm running has had three great sessions. My players are almost level 4 and I've even killed a PC already. We've had a new player each time, and with some creative GMing, haven't lost any pacing because of it.
I think that players that are out of scenarios to play for credit got there because they love playing Pathfinder. And I think that if they love playing Pathfinder that much, they won't have any trouble diving into a good AP and enjoying what they have to offer. I know I'm loving the opportunity to go through the amazing story that is WotR, even though it's not sanctioned for PFS play.
So with all this bad news is anything good happening? Even theories on anything good? Anything to get excited about?
I'm excited for the conventions I'm attending this year, for the new character I'm building, and to see what my players do once they hit the mythic part of WotR.
In a greater sense, Inner Sea Gods just came out and is a great book, we get 10 new classes with Advanced Class Guide, and the new AP is shaping up to be something impressive (and sanctioned). I think in the end, this year will be a blast.
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Well, the Dark Sun successor Dragonkings is coming out any day now with a Pathfinder rules supplement. Should i ever grow tired of PFS things like that and the many AP´s i didn´t yet play as well as some amazing 3PP input can easily keep me and my friends busy.
Is this actually Darksun? I love Athas and actually ran a PF conversion a full years back. I most certainly wouldn't mind doing another Dark Sun game. Love the grittiness and all!
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Well, the Dark Sun successor Dragonkings is coming out any day now with a Pathfinder rules supplement. Should i ever grow tired of PFS things like that and the many AP´s i didn´t yet play as well as some amazing 3PP input can easily keep me and my friends busy.Is this actually Darksun? I love Athas and actually ran a PF conversion a full years back. I most certainly wouldn't mind doing another Dark Sun game. Love the grittiness and all!
Fo course it´s not Dark Sun but Dragonkings, but it is made by one of the original people and carries the spirit. Or so they promise. Google it and check it out. When i find the time i might run a campaign with this.
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Im hoping the new Organised Play will be more Living Greyhawk than Living FR (Im quite surprised nobody here has mentioned LG yet..{or if they have I missed it})
Edit: Dave mentioned it!
Whilst Im not personally a fan of the regional setup (mainly because it does not favor international players), it seemed a very popular setup back when.
Of course a lot of work too.
Im quite capable of playing both PFS and another Living game at the same time. I can separate mechanics, I can keep different characters and learn new mechanics. It will mean Im less likely to run out of things to play.
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To throw in the 2cp, my situation is pretty close to David's above. I essentially got tired of the constant cycling of low-level PCs, and I decided back in 2011, when First Steps came out and it was low-level time again, that my -4 would be the last one I go all the way with. So I did, and now I've got PCs at 19, 13, 11, 8, and 5.
And now that Tier 12+ material is not really happening, with the last 12+ scenario being Eyes of the Ten IV, no more 12+ material within PFS, power-creep beyond a the point of no return, and the downplaying of factions (the thing that got me into PFS in the first place), I'm not sensing a reason to focus on a character again. A play-by-post here and there is about the right level of PFS involvement for me going forward. If the campaign refocused on factions, and the campaign fixed the issues of constantly asking us to make new PCs, I could see myself diving back in again.
So, I'm hitting my goals with the PCs I care about, and I can say I am happy with how my overall PFS experience turned out.
-Matt
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I really am rather indifferent to the factions. I'm really glad they dropped the way they used to do faction mission, they ate up a ton of time at the table and it was really annoying having 5 people yell "do I see this..." every time they walked into the room.
The current faction missions I have found boorish, granted I've only been a proper faction probably twice, so I may have just been unlucky.
I wouldn't mind if they totally eliminated. Most the time it seems people either don't know what the factions are/represent so stay with grand lodge. And a lot of the time the Material benefit is why the faction is chosen (such as Osirion for cheap res or Qadiran for some discounted loot). Sometimes they are chosen for proper flavor as well.
Personally, I have characters in all 3 categories. I have my first 2 pcs (both grand lodge by default), then I have my I need lots of loot or they have a higher chance of death pcs (Qadiran and Osirion respectively) and I have my flavor picks (like silver crusade).
So, to me, factions just aren't that interesting and I wouldn't mind seeing them abolished as I actually feel they detract from table enjoyment over all.
Paizo understands organized play. WotC does not.
It is probably not a coincidence that many of the folks that were involved with WotC's earlier successful Living Campaigns are now at Paizo.
-j
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Paizo understands organized play. WotC does not.
This.
D&DNext could be the best system ever, but if they continue their path with Org Play I still wouldn't want to be involved. Paizo has proven time and time again they "get it" in this arena. WotC hasn't done that for me since Living Greyhawk launched.
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Global Organized Play Coordinator
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Wait, the whole of season 6 is going to be based on a sci/fantasy hybrid? We had a meeting just last week where we discussed season 6 and how it was going to hop around different cool areas of Golarion such as Mwangi, Numeria, Osirion, Ustalav, Belzken, and like 8 other locations. Sheesh, go to a different continent and things go crazy ;-)
There is also a series of blogs planned for June/July that are going to highlight some BIG changes coming to factions.
Did I mention all things harrowing is being made legal the first part of June when I return from Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore?
Just because we decided not to have a tier 12+ for the Special doesn't mean we aren't going to continue sanctioning high level stuff like APs and modules. If things have been slow, it means there is a ton of work on other things going on in the background. Additionally, even though there has been a few comments here, reporting data shows Eyes of Ten part 1 has been run less than 100 times.
Keep the faith. Much more awesome is definitely on the way.
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Keep the faith. Much more awesome is definitely on the way.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I've never ever interacted with a company, gaming or otherwise, that's even close enough to eat Paizo's dust when it comes to outreach. I have a few players locally who will start salivating at the listing of a few of those nations/areas!
PS - do you get to give yourself a coin for multiple trips across the equator in a single outing?
Publisher, Chief Creative Officer
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Which, of course, lowers demand overall for high-level adventures.
Especially because they are harder to do well, are generally longer in terms of pure word count and stat block complexity, and take longer to edit.
We will never say never. Hell, Eyes of the Ten was written by me, and is the most significant adventure design work I've done in years. I did it because I wanted to, and because it needed doing.
There will be a time when we'll release more high-level PFS content. That time is not "in the immediate future," but we will do it when we can find the time to do it. We don't want to promise anything because we're behind enough as it is.
And as Mike said, season 6 is hardly the "Numeria" season, or even the "science fantasy" series. It has themes that overlap with those things, but a huge portion of it will be completely palatable to even the most skeptical purists.
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The best way to show Paizo there is a need for more high level content is to run the existing high-level content and report it. I'd be curious to see the numbers for EoTT and the high level modules, and I'm sure they're looking at them.
My guess, too, would be that a high percentage of EoTT runs are reported. There's a quick, unscientific way to get a sense of it. Who here had played EoTT, and does it show up as reported for your character? For me it's yes and yes. Has anyone here played it and it not been reported? Even if half of the EoTT runs were not reported, that's still only 200 tables, and that's part 1. I seem to remember in a previous thread it was mentioned that the numbers for part 1 are much higher than the other parts, presumably from groups starting, but not finishing the series.
I'm sure Paizo is also looking at the sales numbers for EoTT compared to other scenarios. Those wouldn't be affected by reporting.
I had fun with EoTT, and I'd love to play more high level stuff, but I have a lot of options of sanctioned modules and APs that I can play with my high level characters. I have only a handful of 1-5s, 3-7s, and 5-9s left that I can play, so while a new/second Seeker arc sounds like fun, I understand why the focus might have shifted back to lower level content.
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And as Mike said, season 6 is hardly the "Numeria" season, or even the "science fantasy" series. It has themes that overlap with those things, but a huge portion of it will be completely palatable to even the most skeptical purists.
Balderdash! There's no way you can go an entire season without that new fangled Renaissance plate armour
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I'll be running at least Parts 1 & 2 on May 31st and June 1st, and Parts 3 & 4 if there's enough caffeine =).
Getting a balanced group, a good GM, and matching up schedules for a 4 part series is what's difficult. It took my group 6 months to finish it.
Still, only 100 reported events does seem really low.
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More somewhat unscientific data. A quick glance through the level 12 character spreadsheet came up with 428 characters of level 12 or higher. Like with reporting, that's unlikely to include all level 12 or higher characters, but I'd guess it's at least half, if not more. Even assuming an average of 5 characters per table (4 players plus a GM), that's only 86 or so tables. The average might be closer to 6, and some of the characters on that list are only at 12 or they got past 12 by playing Ruby Phoenix Tournament or another module or AP section.
Point being, the numbers from that spreadsheet don't point to a bunch of Seekers running around that are unaccounted for by the reporting system. Is it still possible? Of course. But it doesn't look likely.
Back to the original topic, I'm excited about the shift in storytelling in season 5, the emphasis on acting like Pathfinders, and where those things might go in season 6. I'm excited about the changes to factions and seeing how John and Mike further refine them. And I'm excited about visiting parts of Golarion I'm not as familiar with.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I'm just going to assume that in the opening briefing of each scenario, Sheila Heidmarch executes all non-gunslingers.Balderdash! There's no way you can go an entire season without that new fangled Renaissance plate armour
And as Mike said, season 6 is hardly the "Numeria" season, or even the "science fantasy" series. It has themes that overlap with those things, but a huge portion of it will be completely palatable to even the most skeptical purists.
And it'll be a plot-death, so that even a 1d4-1 damage dagger can kill a 20th-level character. But if the gunslinger retaliates, we're back to game mechanics land where a targeted shot to the head that crits might still not drop him.