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Hey everyone,
I'm looking at running some season 3 scenarios at PFS.
The problem is, old factions and old faction-heads might crop up during such old seasons.
If old factions are mentioned, how should I handle it?
If old faction heads like Amara Li etc are mentioned, how should I handle it?
Ultimately, I'm trying to use season 3 while adhering to the season 7 Guide to Organized play.
Any tips?
Thanks!
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Well, my first society game was the Throaty Mermaid, which had the it in the same circumstance as you are trying to figure out. My answer would be to look through them well first, and see what you can do with it. Ours worked out fine, besides those weird side objectives; that one for Cheliax(Dark Archive) made nonsense at all. Try to find the faction equivalents today in the current season. If you can not, just don't work on the faction angle. Improvise if need be.
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There's largely no reason to modify older scenarios, though newer players will often not understand the context of what's happening and why. I played through The Dalsine Affair during Season 6, after having only played since Season 4, and nobody at the table understood the motives of the NPCs.
As the GM, you should probably do a little extra research if you're not familiar with that Season's metaplot and add in bits of "common knowledge" as you're describing events. The GM Discussion Forum will help you immensely, too.
But you shouldn't outright remove Venture Captains or modify storylines. Just leave them as is.
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There's largely no reason to modify older scenarios, though newer players will often not understand the context of what's happening and why. I played through The Dalsine Affair during Season 6, after having only played since Season 4, and nobody at the table understood the motives of the NPCs.
As the GM, you should probably do a little extra research if you're not familiar with that Season's metaplot and add in bits of "common knowledge" as you're describing events. The GM Discussion Forum will help you immensely, too.
But you shouldn't outright remove Venture Captains or modify storylines. Just leave them as is.
Full agreement. That said, I'm looking specifically at the Hao Jin metaplot...it's easy enough to create a summary document of common knowledge. I think that's a great idea. I'm woried about how to explain Venture Captains like Amara Li while remaining within the rule set of Season 7.
Could I simply substitute the phrase, "Venture Captain Amara Li" with "Trusted Pathfinder Ally, Amara Li" and leave it at that?
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Specifically, Amara Li is still around in the Society, and she is still the head of the Lantern Lodge. The Shadow Lodge and the Lantern Lodge are both still factions that exist in the society; they just are not available for players to choose to join.
Ah...interesting point. Maybe a "the factions today" document would be a good way of letting players know what sort of political world their entering.
Also - how to deal with Amenopheus or Torch if they crop up?
All feedback is very much appreciated!!
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Specifically, Amara Li is still around in the Society, and she is still the head of the Lantern Lodge. The Shadow Lodge and the Lantern Lodge are both still factions that exist in the society; they just are not available for players to choose to join.Ah...interesting point. Maybe a "the factions today" document would be a good way of letting players know what sort of political world their entering.
Also - how to deal with Amenopheus or Torch if they crop up?
All feedback is very much appreciated!!
Edit: The "factions today" document is great for players to catch up on the politics and metaplots. Good idea.
You don't really need to do anything.
Newer players probably aren't going to notice anyway, and experienced players already understand that there will be timeline wackiness that comes up now and then. It is exactly like watching an episodic TV show out of order—you can't let it bother you if events happen out of order.
If someone does bring it up, just say, "Yep. Flashback."
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Could I simply substitute the phrase, "Venture Captain Amara Li" with "Trusted Pathfinder Ally, Amara Li" and leave it at that?
Amara Li is still a Venture Captain and still awesome. She's just not sending individuals notes anymore. There are plenty of Venture Captains who don't lead factions.
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If I'm not mistaken, there is only one Venture Captain who *does* lead a faction, and that's Ambrus Valsin.
People like Amenopheus, Colson Maldris, and Zarta Dralneen were never Venture Captains.
I'm also pretty sure the Lantern Lodge did technically disband (though the Shadow Lodge did not).
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Slightly off topic but still related, what about running old modules? Should I have a short scene with a venture captain asking the players to help the local authorities? Or just go as is, assuming they are on vacation or something? I ask cause I'm planning on running Crypt of Everflame, which isn't strictly speaking a written as a Pathfinder Society mission.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Hamburg
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In modules, most GMs add in a little "the Venture-Captain sent you" part to start off the adventure.
In the case of Crypt of the Everflame, for example, you could have the PCs be the town's honoured guests from the Pathfinder Society (maybe being sent to be the Society's representatives at the local festivities) and apart from that, run the module as it is.
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Good point. Maybe something believed to be an easy and relaxing job after the last few that got unexpectedly dangerous. The people I'm expecting will probably be level 2 at the time since I intend to run it as a Halloween type session. And the last few Standard sessions have gone slightly pear shaped. Even the ones we've pulled off with with best case situations.
I know I almost needed a change of underwear at the end of From Beneath the Ice. And having half the party taken down by a single thug with a sap was... embarrassing. Between the Lines (our first session) just got ugly in a few encounters. No deaths (thankfully), but very ugly.
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Specifically, Amara Li is still around in the Society, and she is still the head of the Lantern Lodge. The Shadow Lodge and the Lantern Lodge are both still factions that exist in the society; they just are not available for players to choose to join.Ah...interesting point. Maybe a "the factions today" document would be a good way of letting players know what sort of political world their entering.
Also - how to deal with Amenopheus or Torch if they crop up?
All feedback is very much appreciated!!
As far as I know there's no reason to change anything with Amenopheus; the Guide says that he still manages much of the day to day operations of the Scarab Sages, though he's not the faction leader anymore. Torch is a knottier problem.
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I think you should just say "this is an old scenario, so you might run into some old people". Don't edit them out, but admit that it's a bit dated.
That way, if some of those old NPCs make a reappearance in a newer scenario, your players will actually get the reference.
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A couple of things:
Remember that, unless the Secondary Success Conditions document says otherwise, you don't need to include the old faction missions. They have become optional, and don't affect the receipt of PP/Fame now.
Also, if you check the GM Prep Site, the module folders frequently include a Venture Captain speech made up by another GM who has run it in the past.