Pathfinder Society - Where is the actual pathfinding?

[The.Vortex]

Hello everyone,

Today I just want to state something that has been bothering me for a while now. Just so that I know that I have said it and thus there is the (probably small) chance for the Org Play team to see it and maybe think about it.

I started playing participating in Paizo Organized Play back in 2017, after having played Pathfinder locally with multiple groups since its inception and playtest. The first few adventure, as well as how the Society was described and received in the world of Golarion in all that time has more than likely heavily colored my perception of it as an entity.

Back in First Edition, at for a time in second edition as well, the Pathfinder Society was concerned with Archeology and Exploration. Not without reason they were seen as Tomb Raiders by some. There even were Factions like the Scarab Sages, that specifically focused on things like that. And I really enjoyed that.

But there came a point, where the scenarios became less and less concerned with themes like that. I honestly can't remember the last time I acutally GMed or played a scenario that, from the onset, had the exploration of ancient ruins as its theme. And I think that is a shame.

More often then not nowadays, adventures are either rooted in some stuff about big NPCs (which I mostly don't give a rats a$$ about, like the whole stories about The Waterfall or the hag a few seasons back) and less about exploration and discovery. There have even been adventures like A Lie told to Strangers where, after hearing the introduction, my only thought was: "Yes, there is probably a bad thing happening there. But WHY IN THE WORLD does the Pathfinder Society care about that? We are not investigators and prosecutors, we are explorers!"

Looking at the current faction descriptions in the PFS Guide, it feels like the Grand Archive is the correct faction for the type of adventure I am looking for. There was exactly ONE scenario in Season 5 with Grand Archive Tag - and that one had you work at the whim of a poisoner to get new supplies.
Looking at Season 4, Seeking the Heart of Calamity and the following adventures in that storyline might be the closest to the type of adventures I am looking for in the last two years.

I just hope that we can maybe change direction again at some point and get more adventures that feel like we are part of a society of explorers and archeologists, and more storylines that revolve less around some big NPCs that you probably only care about if you played the PFS1 storylines that introduced them way back when.

TL;DR: Please bring back more exploration, archeology and actual trailblazing / pathfinding to the Pathfinder Society!

PS: Maybe it is just me and most other players enjoy the newer style of stories more than I do. That is fine, too. I am not trying to force my style onto anyone. I just wanted to have at least said something.

[cavernshark]

This post reminds me a bit of this other post about there being to many leaders in the Society, to the point that it's difficult to get connected to specific faction leaders.

I've been playing since 2014 and feel a bit similarly to you -- especially over the last few seasons (3, 4, and 5 specifically). The metaplot simply hasn't captured me in the same way that other seasons did. Even Season 1, which had a relatively soft metaplot, felt like we were reopening and exploring things for the society as a whole.

My favorite arcs so far have not been metaplot related (season 2 being the exception), but are instead continuous development arcs where we're either exploring new things or dealing with the aftermath of major world events: the three Pallid Peak scenarios, exploring the Azlanti ruins of Blackwood swamp, or exploring and dealing with the aftermath of emergence of the Gravelands. Season 2 felt similar in that we were focusing on exploring and dealing with our own exploration of the Cyclopean ruins in Iobaria. Even when that metaplot had us in other regions, it generally tied back to that exploration.

I think back to PFS 1 seasons and they felt similarly more tied to a theme than any particular NPC. Season 4 was all about ancient Thassilon and it allowed you develop strong feelings about Shield Heidmarch. I'm hopeful for this season since it ties so heavily into the Godsrain and is also continuing arcs like the Mountain of Sea and Sky (also loosely connected to Forest of Spirits).

All that said, I can certainly accept that my brain is tinged with a certain amount of nostalgia for some of the earlier seasons and it may also be that I'm missing a lot of the rougher edges. So I'll just emphasize that I'd like to see more development along stories where the Society is actively exploring new regions / ruins that might not be tied to the meta plot of a given season.

[UnforcedError]

In the last couple of years I kept missing the uniqueness each scenario had in the earlier seasons. Most of those were really good at creating a unique atmosphere for their location, be it Finnadar Forest, the Forest of Spirits, or Immenwood, Razmiran or New Thassilon, they excelled at introducing the different ambiances or at painting a snapshot of the locations. They also added unique or at least special plot elements, even mini-games to scenarios (yes, also exploring unknown territories, but I loved the fight against the elements in e.g. Tarnbreaker's Trail, the castle renovation and conspiraton part of Lodge of the Living God, the explore-against-the-clock part in Burden of Envy, the babysitting of the crazy iruxi in Fantastic March of Urwal only to mention a few). In comparison, last season felt many times repetitive with a scenario containing three fights and a chase / discovery-influence or two. [I must say I don't hate the chace or infiltration / obstacle mechanics as long as they're not part of every second scenario, but I loathe discovery-influence with passion by now...] And there were not many memorable locations, NPCs, exciting plot-twists with the exception of Csilla's story (the Equal Exchanges line), where I really enjoyed the scenario plots and the encounters in general I just couldn't relate to Csilla at all. Maybe she was introduced in PF1 somewhere and people knew her. I just didn't, so to me the story arc began with some random masked entity having trouble.
As for the Pallid Peak arc that was mentioned: we had two nice scenarios leading up to the special where I really waited for the great revelation, exploring a long lost dwarven city, but then the special cut off at the gates !!! I expected some follow-up on that in season 4 or 5, maybe a metaplot arc, or just a high level scenario or another special.
On the other hand I'm happy with season 6 so far, 6-00 had a great ambiance pirating near the storm, 6-01 has the starts of a maybe good plothole, probably some NPCs who might become interesting later, and a few good fights, 6-02 revisits the Mountain of Sea and Sky and Tian Xia - always a pleasure :) - while we're suffering the after-effects of a god dying. Given the plot it had to happen in a remote location, great idea to bring back Kayajima again.
Here's to hoping things change or bring back some of the old atmosphere...

[Alison-Cybe]

The.Vortex wrote:

There have even been adventures like A Lie told to Strangers where, after hearing the introduction, my only thought was: "Yes, there is probably a bad thing happening there. But WHY IN THE WORLD does the Pathfinder Society care about that? We are not investigators and prosecutors, we are explorers!"

As I wrote the scenario, I have to give a slightly meta answer to this, which ultimately amounts to "If they don't, there is no adventure for your players to play this week." There are times suspension of disbelief has to take a back-seat to playing a game with friends.

[The.Vortex]

Alison-Cybe wrote:

The.Vortex wrote:

There have even been adventures like A Lie told to Strangers where, after hearing the introduction, my only thought was: "Yes, there is probably a bad thing happening there. But WHY IN THE WORLD does the Pathfinder Society care about that? We are not investigators and prosecutors, we are explorers!"

As I wrote the scenario, I have to give a slightly meta answer to this, which ultimately amounts to "If they don't, there is no adventure for your players to play this week." There are times suspension of disbelief has to take a back-seat to playing a game with friends.

Thanks for the reply and I totally get that. But it still isn't really a satisfactory answer for someone who has already been struggling with the direction many of the newer scenarios have been going. The PFS scenarios were more than a random assortment of disconnected adventures in the past. I cannot say the same for many of the more recent adventures!