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Background: In the past there has been a "Campaign Mode" which was described in PFS Guide 1.0 as: "Campaign Mode, which does not use Pathfinder Society rules, allows the GM to freely modify the encounters and story, and still awards a Chronicle sheet afterward." This was in addition to any rules/restrictions placed by sanctioning document. With PFS2 Guide 3.0 it seems "Campaign Mode" has been replaced with "Adventure Mode"
1. What is Adventure Mode?
Adventure Mode in PFS Guide 3.0 is described as
Adventure Mode is used for adventures not published for society play, and allows the GM more freedom to adapt those adventures, including running the adventure in Pathfinder using GM house rules, and the ability to alter encounters and statistics found in the adventure.
Contrast this to what is called Society Mode
Society Mode is used for PFS Scenarios and Quests, and adheres to all the rules published in this guide. Society mode is governed by the Run as Written provisions in Game Master Basics.
So it seems Adventure Mode is similar to Campaign mode of old, but it now has the added requirement of running the game in Pathfinder. It also appears that you're able to modify encounters and statistics but not the story. Compared to Society Mode, Adventure mode lacks the "Run as Written" provision. Again just reinforcing that the GM can make modifications so long as it is still recognizably the same story.
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Bounties: PFS characters in Adventure Mode
Okay, so we've got Adventure Mode covered. There is also a new table in PFS Gudie 3.0 under the "Additional Adventures" section of the guide. The Table indicates the type of ruleset that is used and the type of characters that need to be used. And as of PFS Guide 3.0, Bounties are now listed as "Adventure Mode" with "PFS Characters Only"
PFS characters from the same section reads:
Pathfinder Society Characters must be built using the rules in the Character Creation Appendix, starting at level 1, and played from there. (Some boons allow characters to start at higher levels.) Any adventure that can be played with a PFS character can also be played with a PFS Sanctioned Pregen.
So now we have this interaction where PFS characters are being brought into adventure mode where GM's can make adjustments for better or worse. This brings more questions.
2. Can PFS characters die while playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
In Short-- No. This is because Bounties are "Sanctioned Adventures" and for sanctioned adventures "Chronicles for Sanctioned Adventures are assigned at the completion of the adventure." So just like any Adventure Path or playing Fall of Plaguestone, if your character dies in that adventure it does not kill the underlying PFS character getting credit. At worst, you could just apply the credit to a different character # you've never played.
3. What happens to consumables if they are used when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
This I'm less sure on. But following the general idea of Adventure Mode, I think that they would not be used.
4. Speaking of Consumables, do players get School Consumables when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
No, you do not get PFS School consumables while playing bounties. Those are specific to when playing "In a Pathfinder Society Scenario" where a Scenario is clearly defined and Bounties are not scenarios. Bounties are Adventures. Though, GM's would be welcome to make their own house rule that effectively was players getting their school consumables.
5. Do players who have GM glyphs get to hand out extra hero points when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
No. You don't get to use your GM glyph rewards in sanctioned adventures, though a GM could make a house rule that effectively was the same thing.
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I can answer some of these.
1. What is Adventure Mode?
Adventure Mode in PFS Guide 3.0 is described as
Adventure Mode is used for adventures not published for society play, and allows the GM more freedom to adapt those adventures, including running the adventure in Pathfinder using GM house rules, and the ability to alter encounters and statistics found in the adventure.So it seems Adventure Mode is similar to Campaign mode of old, but it now has the added requirement of running the game in Pathfinder. It also appears that you're able to modify encounters and statistics but not the story. Compared to Society Mode, Adventure mode lacks the "Run as Written" provision. Again just reinforcing that the GM can make modifications so long as it is still recognizably the same story.
Correct.
In order to earn credit for PFS it must be:
Recognizably Pathfinder.
Recognizably the same story.
Recognizably the same setting.
(Obviously, if you will have more fun changing any of those you *should*. It just means it won't qualify for chronicle sheets.)
Bounties: PFS characters in Adventure Mode
PFS characters from the same section reads:
Pathfinder Society Characters must be built using the rules in the Character Creation Appendix, starting at level 1, and played from there. (Some boons allow characters to start at higher levels.) Any adventure that can be played with a PFS character can also be played with a PFS Sanctioned Pregen.So now we have this interaction where PFS characters are being brought into adventure mode where GM's can make adjustments for better or worse. This brings more questions.
2. Can PFS characters die while playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
Yes, the character can die in the adventure, or suffer any number of other horrible fates. But unless the sanctioning document says otherwise, none of those carry over to the PFS character in question.
3. What happens to consumables if they are used when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
Again, unless the sanctioning document says otherwise, consumables expended does not transfer over.
4. Speaking of Consumables, do players get School Consumables when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
No, you do not get PFS School consumables while playing bounties. Those are specific to when playing "In a Pathfinder Society Scenario" where a Scenario is clearly defined and Bounties are not scenarios. Bounties are Adventures. Though, GM's would be welcome to make their own house rule that effectively was players getting their school consumables.
Correct
5. Do players who have GM glyphs get to hand out extra hero points when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?
No. You don't get to use your GM glyph rewards in sanctioned adventures, though a GM could make a house rule that effectively was the same thing.
Correct.
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One Further note
Part of the reason for changing from Campaign Mode to Adventure mode was to streamline the rules and make some major changes. But part of the reason for it was also to eliminate a lot of baggage campaign mode had acquired over the years.
Please do not try to understand Adventure mode through the lens of campaign mode, it is it's own separate thing. It would be like trying to understand PF2 rules in the context of PF1.
The rules for Adventure Mode do *exactly* what they say, and no more than they say. If there are any differences they will be notated in the sanctioning document. If you find an ambiguity or unintended consequence that results from a sanctioning document conflicting with the Adventure mode rules, the sanctioning document takes precedence. If there is still a problem, bring it to the attention of leadership so that the sanctioning document can be fixed.
Also, it *shouldn't* need saying, but the community standards apply to *all* OPF games, in *all* systems, in *all* sanctioning modes.
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... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ...
Could we rely less on sanctioning documents, overall, but especially for Bounties?
I don't know how popular my opinion is, but I already feel like the perceived heterogeneity is undermining one of the key points of Organized Play - that there's a set of rules used in Society that we've agreed to use, and the benefit of standardization of rules justifies the cost of additional bureaucracy and loss of flexibility.
Having to peruse every single Bounty because there may be heterogeneity in one of them is pretty silly. Can we just set some universal rules for Bounties, or, as a compromise, have the rules change only as often as they do for Adventures (3 levels of play = 36 Bounties' worth of play) so that people can just play them without having to Sherlock-Holmes every Bounty?
I mean, I won't lie, I would prefer that the rules be universal even across One-Shots, Adventures, and Adventure Paths, as well. But, for the longer campaigns (especially APs), I can totally understand why nobody wants to commit to conforming to preset rules.
A universal set of Bounty/One-Shot rules would really help me, at least. I can just buy Bounty #18 or One-Shot #5 next year and not have to worry that there's some kind of Gotcha clause in the sanctioning that didn't show up in Bounties #1-#17 or One-Shots #1-#4.
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3. What happens to consumables if they are used when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?[U]nless the sanctioning document says otherwise, consumables expended does not transfer over
I think this was the only potentially problematic element that came up when I last discussed this with a group of VOs online.
You could theoretically load up a spellcaster with scrolls, or a martial character with oils of potency, or drink elixirs like they're Kool-Aid, and really trivialize the adventure, over and over and over again.
Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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3. What happens to consumables if they are used when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?[U]nless the sanctioning document says otherwise, consumables expended does not transfer overI think this was the only potentially problematic element that came up when I last discussed this with a group of VOs online.
You could theoretically load up a spellcaster with scrolls, or a martial character with oils of potency, or drink elixirs like they're Kool-Aid, and really trivialize the adventure, over and over and over again.
OR the GM could slap a double-elite-template on the monster to up the challenge, or slap a weak template on the monster if they felt the risk of TPK on new players wouldn't be a desireable experience.
It all relies on the GM to "do what's right for the group and situation."
Could we rely less on sanctioning documents, overall, but especially for Bounties?
Well, bounties don't have a separate sanctioning document, all the text is already in the adventure pdf, which you need to read anyway if you are going to run the adventure. Not really sure what the problem here is.
Not to mention that the sanctioning part is 2 paragraphs at the end of the adventure, with 3 relevant lines: "if party does X, they earn [4] gp." and "Bounties don't give downtime" and "PC's get 1 reputation". These are unlikely to change, unless we get higher level bounties (which require a different GP amount as reward) or if we get bounties with boons (in which case the document needs to say what to do to gain access to that boon.)Like literally, there "sanctioning" part is shorter than the regular "primary and secondary conditions" of a normal scenario.
As to the sanctioning documents on one-shots and APs and modules, you really have to read those. Luckily, the important stuff fits into a single page. For some reason or another, Org Play wants to reward different adventures in different ways. Some don't give downtime, some don't give reputation, some can only be applied to specific level characters. Some have conditions to unlock equipment or boons on the sheets. Some require use of certain pregen characters. There really isn't a shortcut here since different adventures want to be handled differently.
(What we can hope, is that the older sanctioning documents are updated to reflect the newer rules, to include missing information regarding reputation and downtime etc)
Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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3. What happens to consumables if they are used when playing Bounties in Adventure Mode?[U]nless the sanctioning document says otherwise, consumables expended does not transfer overI think this was the only potentially problematic element that came up when I last discussed this with a group of VOs online.
You could theoretically load up a spellcaster with scrolls, or a martial character with oils of potency, or drink elixirs like they're Kool-Aid, and really trivialize the adventure, over and over and over again.
Granted, but honestly, given that the GM could just say "every check is DC 10, every enemy has 5 hp" short of taking bounties to "Society Mode" (which is not practical for a number of different reasons) there really isn't a lot we can do other build a culture where that sort of thing is socially discouraged.
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... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ... sanctioning document ...Could we rely less on sanctioning documents, overall, but especially for Bounties?
I don't know how popular my opinion is, but I already feel like the perceived heterogeneity is undermining one of the key points of Organized Play - that there's a set of rules used in Society that we've agreed to use, and the benefit of standardization of rules justifies the cost of additional bureaucracy and loss of flexibility.
We do have a set of universal rules. But adventures were not written with organized play in mind. As such, we need that flexibility with respect to what carries over.
If you want standardized rules, use society adventures which were written for those rules.
But, for example, each bounty has specific success conditions that affect the gold rewarded. Those conditions are not written into the bounty, because it is assumed the PCs just get the treasure they earned. But that does need to be translated for pathfinder play.
There isn't a "universal way" we can do that.
In fact a lot of the confusion around bounties came from *trying* to do that.
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Minor Update.
For Adventures in Adventure Mode that are PFS Character Only.
Chronicles are still assigned at the end. But chronicles *must* be assigned to the character who played the adventure (if you are not playing a pregen)
This will be included in the next guide update (which should be monday.)
Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Martinsville
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I miss the old modules and game day goblin fair that had a single session play (for the most part) with the PFS characters (if not playing pregens) participating in the proceedings. It seems like that is what the One Shots are trying to bring back in a way.
Overall, getting chronicles for adventure play for AP's and (whatever they call the self contained adventures modules) seems like an afterthought after playing "a home game" of the product, or what was "campaign mode" in PF1 and still is for Starfinder. (As far as I know)
Even if playing a copy of the PFS character, that copy gets two or three levels as the chronicle gives out one.
The Bounties and one shots are a good addition to the mix, getting a little more content for PFS play, even with the shortened season upcoming for the foreseeable future.
Are there any game day PF2 modules/adventures that has come out in the last two years?