GM – Page 12 – d20 Diaries

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

We carved pumpkins last week with my sister. My daughter carved a rabbit, and my son a cat. Or, more accurately, I carved a rabbit, and my sister carved a cat while my children bossed us around. Both of my kids shrieked when they had to put their hands inside and scoop out the pumpkin’s innards. Mostly they poked at it with a spoon. In fact, my kids didn’t do much at all. But, we had fun! We drew on some more pumpkins at home yesterday. Again, my daughter made a rabbit. My son went with a classic jack-o-lantern face.

This morning I packed up my kids costumes, and sent them off to school. They’ll have a party this morning, change into their costumes after lunch, and spend the afternoon at a school dance and haunted house. They’re absolutely over the moon. My son’s going to be a red dragon for Halloween. And my daughter? One guess.

Yup. A rabbit.

She might be obsessed.

My kids can’t wait to head out trick or treating.

And me?

To celebrate I’m taking a look at my five favourite Horror Adventures!

Ooooooh!

*cue the ominous theme music*

Cries from the Drift, Joe Pasini, Starfinder 1-04, — Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries from the Drift by Joe Pasini.

We’re starting off small with Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries from the Drift by Joe Pasini! This delightful little adventure is intended for Tier 1-4, features one starship battle, and tasks the player’s characters with exploring a derelict ship, uncovering what became of it’s crew (Spoiler Alert: NOTHING GOOD), and collecting the valuable intel they were carrying. This scenario does a great job of setting an ominous atmosphere right from the moment you step foot on the ship, and, with a solid GM, can be quite suspenseful. It’s got some surprises, so I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say that this adventures features some body horror, so it’s not for the faint of heart!

Up Next? The Strange Aeons Adventure Path! Strange Aeons is a six part series of adventures that will have your characters questioning their past, their allies, and their sanity! Strongly inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, it’s spooky, macabre, and downright strange. With alien, unknowable entities, crazed cultists, and a whole heck of a lot of weird! I LOVE this adventure path. Seriously. Love it.

Strange Aeons, Part One, In Search fo Sanity, F. Wesley Shneider — Pathfinder Adventure Path 109: In Search of Sanity (Strange Aeons Part 1 of 6) by F. Wesley Schneider.

Strange Aeons begins with your characters waking up in an insane asylum with no idea who they are or how they got there. Oh, also, there’s some strange monster performing invasive surgery on someone else right outside your cell. Not the way you want to wake up! After your daring breakout you’ll have to explore the asylum, battle strange, shape-changing creatures, and find a way to escape — without being devoured by the… things outside. From there? Well, let’s just keep that under wraps for now. This is one of those campaigns where being in the dark is half the fun!

Strange Aeons begins with Pathfinder Adventure Path 109: In Search of Sanity (Strange Aeons Part 1 of 6) by F. Wesley Schneider. Following that is #110: The Thrushmoor Terror (Part 2 of 6) by Tito Leati, #111: Dreams of the Yellow King (Part 3 of 6) by Ron Lundeen, #112: The Whisper Out of Time (Part 4 of 6) by Richard Pett, #113: What Grows Within (Part 5 of 6) by John Compton, and it finishes with #114: Black Stars Beckon (Part 6 of 6) by Jim Groves. I also highly recommend picking up Pathfinder Pawns: Strange Aeons Pawn Collection to go with it if you intend to play this wonderfully creepy campaign. The Player’s Guide is a free download!

Curse of Strahd, D&D. — Curse of Strahd: A Dungeons & Dragons Sourcebook

Next we leave behind the psychological terror, and head into some classic gothic horror! Curse of Strahd! This hardcover adventure path for Dungeons and Dragons takes place in the Ravenloft campaign setting’s country of Borovia and will take characters from levels one through ten. It’s a spooky, atmospheric, delightful piece of horror that features the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich himself! Play it with a good DM and you’re guaranteed to get chills! This campaign has some tough fights, and was the winner of THREE Ennies in 2016: Winner (Gold): Best Adventure, Winner (Gold): Best Art/Cover, and Winner (Silver): Product of the Year. Special player options are available to download here, untagged maps are available here, and some special notes for DMs are available here.

Carrion Crown Haunting of Harrowstone — Pathfinder Adventure Path 43: The Haunting of Harrowstone (Carrion Crown 1 of 6) by Michael Kortes

From Dungeons and Dragons, we skip back over to Pathfinder, with the Carrion Crown Adventure Path! Carrion Crown is a six part gothic horror campaign that is like a tour de force of classic horror beasts! The first volume, Haunting of Harrowstone, tasks the players with investigating a haunted prison, while later volumes feature carrion golems, werewolves, foul cults, strange beings, vampires, undead, liches, and more! The best part? You don’t always have to kill these beasts. Some have the potential to be allies (if you’re brave enough)! The plot? Stop the Whispering Way from freeing the Lich King Tar-Baphon! I ADORE this campaign!

Carrion Crown begins with Pathfinder Adventure Path 43: The Haunting of Harrowstone (Carrion Crown 1 of 6)by Michael Kortes. It continues with volume #44: Trial of the Beast (Carrion Crown 2 of 6) by Richard Pett, #45: Broken Moon (Carrion Crown 3 of 6) by Tim Hitchcock, #46: Wake of the Watcher (Carrion Crown 4 of 6) by Greg A. Vaughan, #47: Ashes at Dawn (Carrion Crown 5 of 6) by F. Wesley Schneider, and concludes with #48: Shadows of Gallowspire (Carrion Crown 6 of 6) by Brandon Hodge. The Player’s Guide is a free download on Paizo’s website.

So what’s my very favourite horror adventure? Carnival of Tears by Tim Hitchcock and Nicolas Logue! First of, let me point out this is a dark, gory, violent, disturbing adventure. Second, I loved it. Carnival of Tears (more properly known as GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears) is a 3.5 adventure from Paizo Publishing intended for fifth level characters that takes place in the desperate little town of Falcon’s Hollow. Man, that place has gone through a lot! So what better way to relax than with a winter carnival? Right? WRONG! When dark fey take over the carnival they twist it into a nightmare, and use powerful illusions to hide the truth from the citizens. The PCs need to stop the fey, save what townsfolk they can, and try their best to survive the night! I find this scenario is particularly effective when played in a town the player’s have grown fond of (even if that means you don’t play in Falcon’s Hollow), and when they’re forced to help deal with the aftermath of the so-called Carnival of Tears. Just awesome. The horror!

And that’s it!

Or is it..?

There’s one last thing I want to talk about: the future! The horror adventure I most want to play (and read), but haven’t.

Signal of Screams!

Signal of Screams is a three-part adventure path for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game that starts at level seven. It begins with your PCs on vacation at a luxury resort on an asteroid when suddenly the staff and guests begin to get violent! They’ll need to protect themselves and the uninfected guests. But, what if they’re not immune to the madness? I can’t wait to find out!

Signal of Screams begins with Starfinder Adventure Path 10: The Diaspora Strain (Signal of Screams Part 1 of 3) by Chris S. Sims, which releases in a few more weeks. It continues in December with #11: Penumbra Protocol (Signal of Screams Part 2 of 3)by Jenny Jarzabski, and culminates in January with #12: Heart of Night (Signal of Screams Part 3 of 3) by Saif Ansari.

Got a favourite horror adventure? Let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear about it.

Happy Halloween!

Jessica

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Starfinder: Armory

Hello and welcome to d20 diaries! Today we’re taking a look at Starfinder: Armory! This is one of the few Starfinder sourcebooks that’s available for purchase. It’s a hardcover book that focuses on new gear and equipment for use in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

This article isn’t meant to be a thorough review or critique of Starfinder: Armory. It won’t replace the book (nor would I want it to!). It’s a quick breakdown of what’s found inside, and what I liked best in each chapter. It’s a collection of my favourites parts of the book, and some highlights. It’s here so that fellow gamers and fans can take a look and get a real a feel for what they’ll get out of the book. Hopefully it helps you decide whether this product is right for you.

Starfinder: Armory is a hardcover sourcebook 159 pages in length. Nearly all of that is dedicated to gear, with the remaining pages offering new character options for each of the seven Starfinder core classes. It features delightful cover art by Remko Troost which depicts Obozaya (the iconic vesk soldier) and Quig (the iconic ysoki mechanic) shopping. The inside covers feature a nice image of the Pact World System (which is not to scale). Following that is the table of contents and the ‘Overview.’ Basically, the two page introduction just lets you know what kinds of gear you’ll find in this book, and explains the difference between the different types of equipment categories. Perhaps the most useful tidbit? A tiny sidebar about minor equipment. Basically, any random technological item you want to invest in that’s not a weapon — things like cameras, clocks, headphones, so on and so on. Each of those items is available if GM approval for a price of 5 credits. Easy. Done. Love it. My daughter tends to try to purchase a lot of frivolous gear like this, so it’s nice to have a proper baseline for it.

After this its on to Chapter 1: Equipment. At a whopping 130 pages long, this chapter is by far the bulk of the book. These pages are filled with all new gear (not reprints) sorted by category. Equipment categories include: weapons, weapon accessories, weapon fusions, special materials, armour, powered armour, armour upgrades, augmentations, technological items, magic items, hybrid items, personal items, drugs, medicinals, poisons, other purchases, and vehicles.

Up first? Weapons. In general this book provides a wider array of weapons for each damage type at various levels, and some new abilities. And the number of choices? Huge! Just looking at the weapon charts there are six pages of melee weapons, four pages of small arms, three of long arms, three of heavy weapons, one of sniper weapons, a quarter page of untyped weapons, a quarter page of ammunition, a half page of solarian crystals, and a half page of grenades. That’s hundreds of new weapons up for sale — not even counting the new modifications and weapon fusions. There’s some awesome artwork in this section, with the art for the Bravado Handcannon (a small arm projectile with critical knockdown), the Exhorter Shout Projector (a sonic heavy weapon with critical demoralize), the Grave-Class Void Rifle (a cryo longarm with critical suffocate), the Matrix Resonant Pistol (a sonic small arm with critical deafen), the traditional battle ribbon (an uncategorized advanced melee weapon), and the warfan (and uncategorized advanced melee weapon), all numbering among my favourites. There are 46 new weapon special properties (breach, drain charge, free hands, and gravitation are my favourites), and sixteen new critical hit effects (blind and stifle are my favourites). There’s also an array of weapons manufacturers, each of which can add special abilities to your gun (for an extra fee, of course!). I’d be sure to buy from AbadarCorp and Ringworks Arsenal Group’s lovely weapon selection.

Kent Hamilton-Armory Spread — Some of the many weapons available in Starfinder Armory. Illustrated by Kent Hamilton.

But that’s not all! There’s also new weapon accessories, weapon fusions, and special materials up for offer. For accessories be sure to check out the bayonet bracket and collapsing weapon. I like a lot of the new weapon fusions, but my favourites probably turned out to be accurate, conserving, guarded, obscuring, rebounding, and soulfire. For special materials I was surprised to find I enjoyed horacalcum and inubrix the most.

After leaving behind sixty pages of weapons and weapon-related products we’re heading out into the wide world of armour. There’s six pages dedicated to light and heavy armour (with two of those being full-page art), followed by six pages dedicated to powered armour (with two of those being full-page art), and finally six more pages of armour upgrades. The upgrades are a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed adaptive energy shield, agility enhancer, auto injector, easy access kit, glamour projector, long strider module, medical interface, stabilizer springs (a nice low-level option), and (my personal favourite) the computer interface, which essentially lets you make a ‘Jarvis’ for your ‘Iron Man’ suit.

Up next? Augmentations. Biotech has two pages dedicated to it (be sure to check out the mighty vocal chords and regenerative blood), Cybernetics has two pages (I like the optical laser), Magitech has four pages of options (check out antimagic skin and arcane lenses), and finally Necrografts fill the last four pages (I like the bore blade and the healing larynx).

Armory - Power Armor Spread Leonardo Borazio — Some of the Powered Armour found in Starfinder Armory. Illustrated by Leonardo Borazio.

Then we move right on to Technological items. This section fills up a whopping twelve pages! Some of it is new, while others are pleasantly familiar, either because you can find them in our world, or because they were introduced in Pathfinder’s Technology Guide (such as ion tape and zipsticks). I particularly enjoyed the auto cartographer, datapad, domestic drive, emergency raft, evenfire unit, holographic sashimono, hoverskates, ion tape, nanite hypopen, and the many new tool kits. There’s lots of useful stuff!

Magic Items are up next, where you’ll find ten more pages of new equipment to spend your credits on. To start with there’s some cool aeon stones, my favourite of which is the kaleidoscopic icosahedron. The very expensive containment tesseract is also pretty nifty. I also enjoyed the cover seed, darksight goggles, dented kasa, diffraction cloak, figurine of wondrous power (which summon creatures to fight for you), ofuscated journal, plasma beads (pretty much a necklace of fireballs), Starfinder backpack, and the tangle burst seed. This is followed by three new artifacts: Atrocite Sphere, Trafodi Paradox, and, my personal favourite, the Book of Unwritten Truths.

Fusing Technological Items and Magic Items are the delightful Hybrid Items, which take up eight pages. I enjoyed the captive-star amulet and various vital seeds most, although I’m sure there’ll be lots of fans of the new hybrid grenades (of which there are many). I got a great laugh out of computer idols, and the software imp! Be sure to give them a read.

Ysoki Gear - Rat After this is four pages of Personal Items. Although not the most exciting category of items, it’s certainly useful. My favourites are staples! The gear maintenance kit, mess kit, and books. (I know, I know. I’m really stepping out of my comfort zone there! Haha!).

Drugs, Medicinals, and Poisons all share the next two pages (which aren’t really my cup of tea), followed by two pages of ‘Other Purchases.’ This section is mostly flavour, but I found I really enjoyed reading about the types of cuisine created and favoured by the core races of the Pact Worlds. The ysoki were hilarious! (Don’t eat their food. In fact, I’d stay away from Shirren cuisine, as well!).

Finally, there’s two pages of new vehicles, the cheapest of which is the level two motorcycle for 1,900 credits. And that brings us to the end of the new equipment. 140 pages have flown by just like *snaps* that! But, that’s not the end of the book. That simply brings us to the next chapter.

Armoury Android Envoy Alexander Nanitchkov — Android Envoy by Alexander Nanitchkov.

Chapter 2: Character Options. Here you’ll find one new archetype, plus two pages of new class options for each of the core classes. All of these options are focused on equipment —- typically using your equipment to the best of its ability (or beyond its normal capabilities). The archetype comes first and is called Augmented. These guys are great with — you guessed it — augmentations! They get more, pay less for them, and can make their augmentations do more than they’re built to. The Augmented grants alternate class features at 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 9th levels. I really enjoyed it (and know at least one character created by my family who’ll be using it!).

The Envoy’s class options include four new low level improvisations, two sixth level improvisations, and two eighth level improvisations, followed by seven new expertise talents. Be sure to check out fire support, brace yourselves, improved brace yourselves, terrifying blast, and improved terrifying blast for improvisations, and expert advice for talents.

The Mechanic’s class options include four new level two tricks, three more level eight tricks, two more level fourteen tricks, and four new drone modifications. My favourite tricks were provisional repair and recalibrate engine, both of which are available at level two. My favourite drone mods were barricade, and grease.

The Mystic class options were both the least adaptable, and my favourite! They introduced a new mystic connection, and two new spells granted by that connection. So what is it? The Geneturge! These guys are capable of altering their genetic code (and even those of others). In application their abilities mostly involve biotech, and sudden evolution. I particularly enjoyed their Personal Modification third level ability, their Warping Strain ninth level ability, and their Instant Evolution fifteenth level ability. The two new spells are detect augmentation, and reject augmentation (which sounds awesome! Haha).

Armoury Human Mystic Alexander Nanitchkov — Human Mystic Genethurge by Alexander Nanitchkov.

The Operative class options include sixteen new exploits (six at level 2, five at level six, four at level ten, and one at level fourteen). and one new operative specialization. Of the exploits, I particularly enjoyed armour optimization, fast aim, pistol whip, trap spotter, and ricochet shot. The new Specialization is the Gadgeteer, a very cool inventor which makes use of two new exploits: utility belt, and quick deployment. His trick attacks involve using a custom device to distract the enemy. Such fun!

The Solarian class options include one new stellar revelation and one new graviton revelation for each level (level two, six, ten, and fourteen), and for zenith revelations. That makes for ten cool new options total. I had a hard time picking my favourites, but in the end I decided I liked constructive interference, stellar equilibrium, attractive force, debris field, particle field, and particle wave, which turned out to be an even split between stellar and graviton powers. Awesome!

The Soldier class options include ten new gear boosts and a new fighting style called ‘Shock and Awe.’ The fighting style is supposed to focus on making a real spectacle of yourself. I like it in theory, but in execution I wasn’t that impressed. Still, it’s different. Fighters who take this style will want to make use of sonic weapons and weapons with the bright special quality. As for gear boosts, there’s a ton of useful options. My favourites were steady sniper, twinned threat, and unstoppable strike.

StarfinderCover — Starfinder Core Rulebook

Finally we come to the Technomancer’s class options which include five new magic hacks of varying levels, and three new spells. My favourite magic hacks were recode gem (which is available at level two), and enchanted fusion (which is available at fifth level). As for spells, I rather enjoyed animate armour, and incompetence. The third spell, electroplating, is also quite useful.

And that’s it! All that’s left is the index and the end. 160 pages of awesome.

Honestly, I think that Starfinder: Armory is one of those books you’ve got to invest in. It’s not a frivolous extra purchase. You’ll reference it ALL the time. Every time you need to spend your credits you’ll crack out the Starfinder Core Rulebook and the Armory. For players, I’d say its more important than the Alien Archive (and Alien Archive 2) and Pact Worlds. For GMs? Well, hard to say. If you only GM it’s going to be less useful for you than the Alien Archives and Pact Worlds. But you’ll still get your use out of it. I adore this book and think it’s well worth the money.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek inside Starfinder: Armory with us!

See you in the Drift!

Jessica

Pathfinder Playtest 1.5!

This week’s Pathfinder Playtest Update is Version 1.5 and it’s a small one!

Sort of.

There are really only two changes this week, but both changes have quite a bit of a ripple effect. For starters they’ve tweaked the death and dying rules again, which also affects the DC to administer first aid, and the wording used on some other minor abilities (the dwarven ancestry feat mountain’s stoutness, the feat toughness, and the spells breath of life and stabilize are all good examples of this). On a related note, the DC for treating wounds with the medicine skill has changed, and is based on the patient’s level now, instead of the player’s.

And the only other change?

Spells! They’re making them stronger. Unfortunately, the only kind of spells that are easy to edit in this type of playtest are the damage dealing ones. So, although you can expect see many (if not all) spells get beefed up a bit for the release of Pathfinder 2 next year, the 1.5 update only changed the damage dealt by around forty-five spells. Typically it was the initial damage that was changed, with the heightened increases remaining at the same interval. Exciting!

This is definitely one of those aspects of gameplay you want to give feedback on. Did your spells slaughter the enemies without difficulty? Did the enemy’s spells slaughter you? Important to know (and easy to playtest)! So after you’ve given the spells a test run be sure to give your feedback. I know I’m curious to see how this plays out.

Jessica

Pathfinder Playtest: Resonance Test

Resonance.

If you’re playing the Pathfinder Playtest you’ll know that its one of the of the most controversial additions to the game. It was meant to represented your characters innate ability to activate magic items, and intended to help limit how much magical gear your characters could utilize each day. If you wanted to use a magical cloak you invest some resonance. Fire a magic wand? It costs resonance. Want to drink a potion? Resonance.

Personally? Disliked it. It felt… arbitrary. Like your GM just suddenly saying: ‘No, you can’t use that,’ when you know you should be able to. Especially with potions! And alchemical objects! Why?

Paizo has already confirmed that when Pathfinder 2.0 comes out there will be a change to the resonance rules. But, just this week they decided to test out a new system. They’ve taken our feedback and shook it up a bit.

Enter the Resonance Test!

The Resonance Test is a PDF rules update that is free to download and focuses on Resonance, new rules for it, and updated items and abilities that reflect this change. Afterwards there are some pregenerated characters. After reading the new rules, you select a character and use them to play through Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario #2: Raiders of Shrieking Peak. Give the rules a shot and then provide Paizo your feedback in a special survey. It’s important to note that these rules are not for using with the rest of the Pathfinder Playtest, and that you shouldn’t create your own characters to utilize these rules.

So, what are these rules, anyway?

For starters, resonance means something different. It’s no longer the number of magical items you can use every day. Instead, resonance represents how many magical items you can wear each day. Essentially it takes the place of item slots. But, instead of keeping track of each slot on the body, you just get 10 of your choice. This is meant to be a large enough number that you don’t feel constrained, but at the same prevents excessive over-use. Magical items (wearable, consumable, and so on) no longer take resonance to function. In fact, they no longer take any kind of points to function. They just work. Most of them have a limited number of uses (either per day, or total).

Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario 2 Raiders of Shrieking Peak — Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario #2: Raider of Shrieking Peak, by Luis Loza.

But, that’s not all. They’ve also shaken up Spell Points. In this test they no longer exist. Instead you have Focus Points. These points are based off of your charisma and your ancestry. They represent your natural affinity for magic and magical objects. You can use focus points to either activate your spell powers (which you once used spell points for) or to get more out of a magical item. Now, taking a spell power from your class no longer grants you extra focus points and, since you have less focus points to work with that you used to have spell points, all of your spell powers abilities have been amplified. Simply put, spell powers are better than they used to be, and cost Focus Point instead of Spell Points. But you have less spell points.

But what if you don’t have spell powers? No worries! As mentioned, you can also use focus points to get a little something extra out of your magical gear. What that effect is will vary between item. Some potions might have double the duration or potency, a limited use ability could gain an extra use, and so on.

Interesting.

Overall, I vastly prefer the new resonance test rules to those found in the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook. I like that resonance is going to replace item slots, and I like that you no longer need to spend points to activate magical items. I love the concept of focus points, and using your innate charisma to push magical items beyond their capabilities. It’s very occultist (and I love Pathfinder’s occultists!). I even like that spell powers and these new item focus powers share the same point pool. My only quibble? I’m going to wish I had more points! Haha.

I’m excited to see how these new rules work in play!

Jessica

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Media Frenzy!

Whew! Another busy week has come and gone and I feel like I’ve barely come up for air! This month is flying by! But, enough about chores, work, and responsibility! Let’s talk about something fun.

d20 games in the media.

(Around my house).

Teen Titans Go! (The Complete First Season)

Every once in a while I mention we’ve seen an episode of a show or movie that references D&D in some way. Stranger Things is and obvious (and amazing) example. iZombie has a wonderful set of episodes that feature Dungeons and Dragons, and my kids had a blast watching Voltron’s ode to the game. Just the other day we saw another on one of our family’s favourite kids cartoons: Teen Titans GO! In case you’re unaware, the Teen Titans are a teenage super hero team created by DC comics. Back in 2003 they had an awesome cartoon that played on the Cartoon Network, and a few years ago they re-released a spin-off of the show as… well an inane comedy. They’re the same characters and the same voice actors, but the show is goofy, irreverent, and rarely features any actual crime fighting. It’s a comedy above all else, and my whole family loves it. Seriously! My favourite episode, ‘And the Award for Sound Design Goes to Rob’ (Season Two, Episode 48) involves silence taking over the world, and the Teen Titans making their own sound effects for everything. When dolphins say ‘Booya!’ and Beast Boy makes punches sound like a fart, you know you’re about to have some laughs. My kids were rolling on the ground in laughter. (Seriously). Anyway, there we were, enjoying some Teen Titans Go! when the episode ‘Riding the Dragon’ (Season 3 Episode 51) started. (Most of) The Teen Titans are enjoying a fantasy game where they attempt to ride a dragon, only to have Robin appear and tell them they’re not playing by the rules. He proceeds to force them to, and spends the entire episode sucking all the fun out of their D&D style game. It’s hilarious.

And then today? My kids had the chance to have their weird and wacky characters ride a dragon in game. They were so excited! They even started singing a song from the Teen Titans episode. The look of absolute joy on their faces was truly a delight. Special thanks to GM Dennis for giving them the opportunity! (Thanks!)

On a similar note, my kids finally discovered the glory of Critical Role! How? Why? …Beastmaster!

Seriously.

My kids saw a picture online of Terry Crews holding up a fake warhammer and roaring. Immediately they exclaimed: “Hey! I know that guy! He was a judge on Beastmaster! Let’s watch that!” (My daughter LOVES Ultimate Beastmaster). So we clicked play.

It was an episode of World of Warcraft themed CelebriD&D starring Terry Crews. (I imagine more than a few of you have watched it!). Long story short we gave it a try and my kids were enthralled! They thought it was hilarious. My son thought that Terry Crews’ character ‘Thodak the Blacksmith’ was the coolest, but my daughter loved Marisha Ray’s goblin ‘The Ritz.’ If you haven’t watched it (or any of the other CelebriD&D episodes) and you like that sort of thing I suggest you give it a shot. It was great fun. Of course, my kids have never played World of Warcraft, so when we finally finished watching all the CelebriD&D episodes we watched the World of Warcraft movie, which is currently on Netflix. My husband fell asleep (he’s recently given up coffee, so I wouldn’t hold that against the film), but the rest of us liked it.

While we’re on the topic of random online videos that we’ve enjoyed, I also got a lot of laughs from Joe Manganiello’s and Stephen Colbert’s Dungeons and Dragons interview. Oh! And (not nerd related at all) Robert Irwin’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon with Kevin Hart. Obviously, Kevin and Jimmy are hilarious, but man! Robert is so enthusiastic and adorable! I love it!

We’ve been watching Paizo’s Twitch Channel recently. The Doomsday Dawn live play episodes look interesting, but I’ve yet to give them a try. Admittedly, I don’t have the time to watch them. Haha. I don’t watch anything live, but when I can find the time (usually while preparing vegetables for dinner or something) I put on a shorter video. I regularly watch the Pathfinder Friday episodes (which are a whole lot of Deconstructing Doomsday Dawn recently!). But my favourite? I ADORE Starfinder Wednesdays! May of the recent episodes preview the Against the Aeon Throne adventure path (and information related to it). Recently they started making episodes about different planets in the Pact Worlds. Eox was first. Then Aucturn. And tonight they’re going further afield to the planet Daimalko. Awesome! My kids even love sitting down to watch these ones. It’s such a great way to get the feel for the many planets across in an engaging way. I hope they keep it up!

Speaking of making gaming engaging, I recently stumbled upon the work of Craig Bailey, a GM who makes props to go along with his games. Most of them are from Starfinder’s Dead Suns adventure path and WOW! Are they ever amazing! Field notes, passports, news clips, and even mock websites where the players can attempt to sift through an NPCs emails! AWESOME! If you haven’t heard of him (and especially if you’re GMing Dead Suns) be sure to look him up on twitter or youtube!

Seriously.

I can’t even imagine the effort put into these ‘handouts.’

*standing ovation*

In other news (sort of) I read the Dragon+ Magazine whenever I have the time (which is rarely. Did I mention I’ve been busy lately? Haha). For those of you who don’t know it’s a free Dungeons and Dragons web-magazine you can view online or through the Dragon+ app. But, this last issue I made sure to make the time to give it a read. Why? RAVNICA!

D&D Ravnica — D&D: Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

As some of you may be aware, I don’t just plat d20 games. I love all kinds of games. Including collectible card games. And, although my kids love Pokemon, my game of choice is Magic: The Gathering. By far. Love it. I love the game, the art, the lore, the worlds… Everything except the COST! Haha. So when I heard that Dungeons and Dragons was joining forces with Magic: the Gathering and releasing a Ravnica campaign sourcebook I squealed in glee. Then I thought: “It’s about time!” Cause, really! They’re both Wizards of the Coast! Why did this take so long?!? D&D: Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica is due out near the end of November, but is already available for preorder on amazon. Even better? At the time of posting it’s twenty dollars off the regular price. If only I had someone to buy it for! (Other than myself…).

A girl can dream.

Jessica

Pathfinder Playtest: 1.4!

Well, it’s another week and another Pathfinder Playtest Update! There’s new surveys to fill out about Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn: Part Five: Heroes of Undarin, new videos to watch on Paizo’s twitch stream, and a new Pathfinder PlaytestUpdate Document. Be sure to head on over to Paizo’s website and download the free update. This version? 1.4!

So, what’s new this time around?

Heritages.

In previous versions of the Pathfinder Playtest you select an ancestry: dwarf, elf, goblin, gnome, halfling, or human. This choice grants you ability boosts and flaws, hit points, size, speed, languages, and some special abilities. Then you select a single ancestry feat. This feat grants you an additional ability or quality based on your ancestry that you get to select yourself. At higher levels you can select more ancestry feats. Unless of course, you’re a half-elf or a half-orc. To access those races you have to select human, and then use your ancestry feat to become a half-elf or half-orc.

That’s no longer the case.

Instead, they’ve introduced an additional kind of feat: heritage feats. Now you select an ancestry, apply it, then select a heritage feat and an ancestry feat. Like ancestry feats, heritage feats are tied to your ancestry. Only gnomes can select a gnome heritage feat, and so on. The half-elf and half-orc ancestry feats are now a part of this heritage feat system. You become a human, select a either half-orc or half-elf as a heritage feat, and select an ancestry feat like every other ancestry gets to. In addition to shuffling these feats around they created unique heritage feats for each ancestry. With the selection of a heritage feat you can now play a desert dwarf, jungle elf, svirfneblin, razor tooth goblin, nomadic halfling, and so on. Each ancestry has around four new heritage feat options. Some of these options will be familiar. For example, the dwarven hardy ability has been moved from an ancestry feat to a heritage feat called Strong-Hearted Dwarf. Others options are brand new.

But, that’s not the only changes. With the addition of heritage feats some of the ancestry abilities have been shuffled around. Other ancestries lost abilities, and some (like halflings) gained some (finally!). They’ve also created three new, higher level ancestry feats for each ancestry.

The rest of the changes are quite minor. They’ve altered the phrasing on a few abilities, improved fighter’s bravery, ranger’s full-grown companion, and the feats battle medic and natural medicine. Crafting can now be used to Recall Knowledge about alchemy instead of arcana. Medicine can now be used to find forensic information on a body or a crime scene. A few spells were slightly adjusted.

And that’s it! It’s a small update, but the heritage system is going to effect every character created to date, so it’s quite important. I’m curious to see how this alters the feel of Pathfinder Playtest characters.

Only time will tell!

Jessica

First snow and giving thanks!

Whoo, it’s been a busy week!

My family spent the better part of last weekend preparing for winter. We dug out and washed all of our winter gear, tried on coats and boots, matched mitts (or shoved lonely mitts into mismatched pairs), donated what was too small to the homeless, and went out to buy new winter boots. Everyone in my house needed a new pair this year and with the amount of walking we do winter boots are a necessity for everyone, not just my kids. Which is unfortunate, I suppose, because they’re really expensive. It’s important they’re warm enough and waterproof to keep everyone nice and toasty throughout our chilly winters, so cheap fashion boots won’t cut it. They’ve got to be cold rated for -30°C at least. -40°C is better. Not easy to find for my daughter. For some reason boys boots are built for the cold, while a lot of girl boots look like they’re warm, but aren’t. Anyway it took us the weekend, but we all managed to find a pair. And just in time! We had our first real snow on Wednesday. I say real snow because we’ve had flurries before this. But this snow stayed. There was enough of it to get the kids all excited, and to make snowballs and tiny snowmen (or in my daughter’s case, tiny snow rabbits). I’m not sure how long the snow will stay. It might not go away until next spring, but there’s only a few centimetres, so if we get a warm day it might still melt away. We’ll see. My kids were thrilled for it, but after only a day of the damp and the (very, very mild) cold they’re already complaining.

Suck it up kids! We’re just getting started! It will get so much worse. Haha.

My toddler-aged niece that I watch on the weekdays hates getting in her winter clothes, so every trip outside and to and from school is a tear-filled struggle. Not to mention the time! It takes twenty minutes to get everyone properly dressed and out the door. (Once they get used to it I hope to cut it down to fifteen. Ten would be a welcome miracle). My niece keeps expecting me to give up on her and let her do whatever she wants, which is not going to happen. Clearly she has forgotten we had this same problem last winter. She did not win. She’ll grow accustomed to it in a few weeks. Hopefully sooner. Thankfully her older brother (he’s four) does remember last year’s winter. He knows he needs to bundle.

Pathfinder Playtest Doomsday Dawn — Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn

In other news, my family and I tried playing some more of Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn. We prepared our characters for ‘In Pale Mountains Shadow’ and got started. Unfortunately, by the end of the session they decided they were bored with it. They’ve officially given up playing through Doomsday Dawn and are ready to go back to their regular games. My son desperately wants to continue with the Carrion Crown Adventure Path (we’re about to start Carrion Crown: Book Two: Trial of the Beast), my husband wants to continue with The Shackled City Adventure Path (we’re nearly done book one), and my daughter wants to play some more of our Starfinder Society characters. Most of the other campaigns we’re playing together I moved online so we can play via play-by-post. Getting in a post a day lets us keep playing, so we can dedicate our one chance to play on the weekends to one of our three main campaigns.

Although it may sound like we’re done with the Pathfinder Playtest that’s not quite accurate. I’m playing through two different play-by-post runs of Doomsday Dawn, and we’re all playing in a play-by-post run of the Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenarios. We’re halfway through Rose Street Revenge right now and enjoying it. My son’s character is particularly hilarious. We’ll share more about that at a later date.

My son’s current favourite book: The Adventures of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Novel by Day Pilkey, by Day Pilkey.

My son has been reading like crazy lately! Obviously, I’m very proud of this. I believe that reading is one of those incredibly important skills you really need to instil a love of young. I always encourage my kids to find something they love to read, and indulge in it. Even though both of my kids are good at reading I always push them to try reading something that’s a challenge everyday. Not absurdly hard for them, or anything, but something they do need to work at a bit. Anyway, both of my children are reading well above their grade level so their classrooms don’t have anything that’s a challenge for them. They both bring home books that are far too easy for them for home reading everyday. In fact my daughter can read her older brother’s home reading books without trouble, never mind her own. We have a ton of books at home for my kids to read, but only two books that are a challenge for my son to read that interest him (and he’s read both chapter books repeatedly already). We have plenty of chapter books that my son reads for fun — Geronimo Stilton, The Hardy Boys (Secret Files), Scooby-Doo! mystery novels, Minecraft books, the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom junior novelization, and so on — but he can read one of those in under a half hour. They’re a challenge for my daughter (and some are too hard), but not exactly a challenge for my son. Something must be done! Once a week after I pick my kids up from school we go for a walk to the local library and I let them each pick out one book that’s a challenge for them to read, and one book that they just want. I say one, but inevitably they come back with one challenging book and a ton of other books they want to read. This is expected and totally fine. A while ago my son brought home a massive book on ecology clearly intended for pre-teens or teenagers. This thing was huge! Anyway, he loved it, but this time he wanted a chapter book. He contemplated starting the Guardians of Gahoole books, so he picked up one of those. But for his fun book? Captain Underpants. My son LOVES Captain Underpants. So he pulled down not one book, but every single Captain Underpants chapter book the library had. There are twelve of them.

My daughter’s favourite chapter book: The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde, by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale.

“Are you sure you’ll read all of them this week?” I asked my son. “They’re going to be heavy.”

“Uh, yeah, Mom. Of course! But, it might take me two weeks to read them.”

It took him three days. Which is great! But, also… not great. I now have to break it to him that there are only twelve Captain Underpants books. He just read them all. Meanwhile my daughter picked out three Princess in Black chapter books. She owns one of them: The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde, already, but the others are new to her. Although she’s disappointed they are not going to have any rabbits in them, she is enjoying them. So much so that she was inspired to write her own book. It’s called ‘Bunny’s Adventure.’ In it a rabbit named Pim journeys up the rainbow and finds another world. She makes some friends and is back home in time for bed. She worked on it for a few days and in the end gave it to her teacher as a gift. (Her teacher had just returned from surgery that week). It was adorable. She’s so proud of it.

Traveller Core Rulebook by Mongoose Publishing.

I was recently invited to join a play-by-post game of Traveller, and gifted a digital copy of the rulebook by the overly generous Tarondor. (Thank you!) Traveller is a game I’ve never played before, so I’m super excited to give it a shot. I’ve given the book a skim, and have just embarked on a thorough read-through. The character creation rules look particularly interesting. Like a mini-game of its own. Very cool! I can’t wait to try it out. I’ve got plenty left to read though, so I’m not sure how soon that will be. Haha. This time of the year is quite busy around my house. But, I’m happily working on it.

This coming weekend is going to be just as busy as the last one. Busier, in fact. Yesterday was a day off from school, this morning is swimming lessons for my children (which is about a thirty minute walk away), then dentist appointments later today. I’ve got to squish in a trip to the grocery store and the laundromat. And tomorrow? Thanksgiving at my Mom’s! Monday’s another day off from school and more Thanksgiving celebrations, this time at my mother-in-laws. That’s actually pretty quiet for us for Thanksgiving, in all honesty. We usually also try to squish in visits to my grandparents and my Dad’s, but it’s not going to happen this year. We don’t own a vehicle, and frankly I’m too tired. Haha. We’ll be making time for less frantic visits with them soon.

Well, I’ve got to get cracking! Plenty to do and no time to do it in.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Or, for those of you who are not Canadian, have a great weekend! I wish you all the best.

Jessica

Take a Look d20diaries cropped — My son desperately wanted his picture featured on d20diaries. This was our compromise. Haha.

Pathfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Frozen Oath

Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook Today we’re going to look at the brand new Pathfinder PLAYTEST Society Scenario and tell you what we thought. Currently, there are four of them available as a free download on Paizo’s website: three that were released back in August, and one that was released a short time ago. (For more information on the first three scenarios check out this previous blog post. Each scenario is replayable. You may create your own characters for the intended tier (either created as level one for a tier one scenario, created as level five for a tier five scenario, or created as level ten for a tier ten scenario). Unlike regular Pathfinder Society Scenarios, you do not need to earn enough XP to reach higher levels for the Playtest. If you don’t want to make your own characters, you can also head over to Paizo’s website and download the Pregenerated Pathfinder Playtest characters for the three low level scenarios. For this new scenario, which is tier ten, there are no pregenerated characters. You’ll need to make your own. All you’ll need to run these four scenarios (other than your characters) is the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook, the most recent update document which, at the time of posting this, is version 1.3, and the scenarios themselves. Each scenario is intended for groups of FOUR players (unlike regular PFS Scenarios which are intended for six) although each contains easy ways to scale up encounters for larger groups. Although you’ll find references to events in each that I liked or disliked, and comments about specific characters, these scenarios are not explored in detail. It’s not my intention to spoil the events in these scenarios, or give summaries and full reviews, but to share my opinions and provide recommendations. Once you’re done playing or GMing any one of these scenarios, be sure to head over to Paizo’s website and fill out a survey about your experiences. This will be used by the Paizo team to make the Pathfinder Playtest the best that it can be.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Pathfinder Playtest 4 Frozen Oath Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario #4: Frozen Oath is a Tier 10 adventure written by Ron Lundeen. As previously mentioned, you do not need to earn enough XP to reach level ten. Instead, you need only create your characters at level ten. The majority of this scenario takes place in Urjuk near the Crown of the World. It’s a harsh land of ice and snow, claimed by frost and taiga giants. The adventure begins in Turvik, a settlement in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, then moves quickly to the Path of Aganhei, and finally to Dvalinheim, a giant temple. For more information on the Crown of the World check out Pathfinder Adventure Path 51: The Hungry Storm (Jade Regent Book 3 of 6). For more information on the Lands of the Linnorm Kings check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of the Linnorm Kings. This scenario utilizes Pathfinder Flip Mat: Basic Terrain Multi-Pack, Pathfinder: Flip Mat: Tech Dungeon, and a custom map of Dvalinheim.

ogthup tom ventre — Ogthup by Tom Ventre.

This scenario begins in a meeting in Turvik with the delightful Venture-Captain Bjersig Torrsen and his husky Mahki. Bjersig is a deaf half-orc well trained in reading lips who made another recent appearance in Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-03: Death on the Ice. He’s an awesome VC and I was thrilled to find that he had his own art this time around. Bjersig informs the party that he recently deployed a team of goblin trial-pathfinders on a scouting mission to a giant temple called Dvalinheim. They returned with an object of interest — a few tiles taken from the site which show the giant temple has a connection to the Tian representation of Desna. Believing that this temple could be a site built by the founder of the Path of Aganhei he’s dispatching the PCs to investigate further. He even gives the group a map drawn by one of the goblins. So… yeah. It’s totally accurate (not). Chances are the first thing the group will do is visit the goblin artist to ask her what the heck the map means. Which leads us to our second awesome NPC: Ogthup the goblin. Honestly, chatting with this quirky (and wonderfully drawn) goblin was my favourite part of the scenario. From there the PCs set out to follow Ogthup’s directions to the temple. There’s a few battles along the way, but the bulk of this scenario takes place in Dvalinheim itself. There the group will have to explore the temple, deal with more than a few angry frost giants, and… well let’s leave that part a secret for now. Haha. I particularly enjoyed the monster statistics in this scenario. Many of the creatures have special reactions, and interesting attack forms that make them feel really unique. My personal favourite was the disperse ability of the air elemental. Overall, I thought this was a fun scenario with engaging (but minor) NPCs and interesting opponents. I give it four out of five stars.

Definitely worth a free download!

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at this playtest scenario. If you have a chance to play it, I’d love to hear what you thought!

All the best,

Jessica

New Pathfinder Society Scenarios: ‘Reaver’s Roar’ & ‘Mysteries Under Moonlight: Testament of Souls’

Today we’re going to take a look at two of the most recent Pathfinder Society Scenarios that are currently available for purchase, and let you know we thought. Although you’ll find references to events in each that I liked or disliked, and comments about specific characters, these scenarios are not explored in detail. It’s not my intention to spoil the events in these scenarios, or give summaries and full reviews, but to share my opinions and provide recommendations. That said, if you want to avoid even minor spoilers then I recommend clicking on a different article. Whether you intend to use them in home games of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, sanctioned scenarios for use with the Pathfinder Society Organized Play, or just want to read a nifty new adventure, we’ve got you covered! So let’s get cracking!

10-04 Reaver's Roar Scenario #10-04: Reaver’s Roar is a Tier 7-11 Adventure written by Steven Hammond. It begins in Three Pines Ford in Lastwall, with a mission briefing hosted by Venture-Captain Shevar Besnik and Ollysta Zadrian, leader of the Silver Crusade. The scenario quickly moves on to the semi-abandoned outpost of Roslar’s Coffer, and the Sarenite temple known as the Bastion of Light found within. For more information on Lastwall you can check out the Inner Sea World Guide. For more information on Sarenrae you can check out Inner Sea Gods. This scenario features creatures from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, and Pathfinder Adventure Path: Curse of the Crimson Throne Anniversary Edition (although all of the necessary stat blocks are included within the scenario). It makes use of a vast number of sourcebooks, including the Core Rulebook, Advanced Class Guide, Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Equipment, and even Mythic Adventures. All of the necessary rules from the Advanced Class Guide and the Mythic Adventures are included in this scenario. It features one custom map, and one custom chase. This mission is of particular importance to members of the Silver Crusade faction as well as any worshippers of Sarenrae.

pfs 10-04 - reaver's roar - uirch of the burning sun - dion harris — Uirch of the Burning Sun from PFS #10-04: Reaver’s Roar. Illustrated by Dion Harris. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.

This adventure tasks the PCs with travelling to Roslar’s Coffer and retrieving a helmet of religious significance from the Bastion of Light, an important temple to Sarenrae. The temple once contained many relics and rituals vital during the Shining Crusade. Unfortunately, the temple has since become the lair of an incredibly powerful red reaver. The PCs will have to enter the temple, defeat the red reaver, and obtain the helmet. But, this mission won’t be as simple as it seems! For starters, the red reaver has formed powerful bonds with the relics housed in the temple, which have greatly empowered it. PCs will need to find ways to weaken the red reaver, sever its connection to these relics, and outsmart the territorial creature. In addition, orcs from the Twisted Nail tribe are also after the red reaver for (no doubt) nefarious purposes. The cast of characters is rounded out by Gorm Greathammer, a famous Pathfinder and the third prince of the dwarven sky citadel Kraggodan, who acts as a contact and source of information for the PCs. The town of Roslar’s Coffer is appropriately serious and ominous. When the villagers learn of your purpose in town they offer to send a letter to your loved ones when you die a horrible death. How sweet! Haha. It’s a simple but effective way to showcase the ‘friendly’ villagers and let the players know that they might not survive the challenges ahead. I love the atmospheric buffer zone between the town and the territory of the red reaver. There’s a great chase scene in this scenario, and the red reaver is wonderfully challenging. The exploration of the Bastion of Light is a lot of fun, providing characters with danger, a few scares, chances to weaken the red reaver, chances to gain holy blessings, and even chances to make an ally or two. It offers GMs some nice flexibility in the placement of a few encounters, and does a really great job of setting an ominous, suspenseful mood. Perhaps one of the most impressive things? It will make your PCs scared for their lives. A rare thing at high levels of play! The red reaver is a fierce opponent that needs to be weakened in order for your characters to have a chance of defeating it. And even then? It should still be a tough fight! This, of course, makes it a difficult scenario to use with players who prefer to decimate everything, straight-forward encounters, and for most younger players. But the ending? SO worth it! Overall I really liked this scenario, although it’s atmosphere and difficulty are not for everyone. I give it four out of five stars.

10-05 Mysteries Under Moonlight Part 1 Testament of Souls Scenario #10-05: Mysteries Under Moonlight: Part 1: Testament of Souls is a Tier 3-7 adventure written by Alexander Augunas. It is the first of a two part series that takes place in Magnimar entitled Mysteries Under Moonlight. Both of these adventures are intended to be played in order. This adventure’s sequel Scenario #10-07: Mysteries Under Moonlight: Part 2: The Howling Dance is a Tier 3-7 adventure written by Crystal Malarsky and is scheduled to be released at the end of October. For more information on the city of Magnimar you can check out the Inner Sea World Guide, and Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Magnimar, City of Monuments.

Testament of Souls features creatures from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, Bestiary 2, and the Monster Codex (although all of the necessary stat blocks are included within the scenario) and makes use of a variety of sourcebooks including the Core Rulebook, GameMastery Guide, and Occult Adventures. It utilizes the new Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Dungeon Starter Set, as well as Pathfinder Map Pack: Village Sites, and a custom map reprinted from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed. Although this mission is not tied to any particular factions, if you have any characters who are from Magnimar, have a love of monuments, or an interest in laying spirits to rest, now is a great chance to bring them out to play.

pfs 10-05 10-07 - mysteries under moonlight - inspector theodorus ichonvarde - tadas sidluahskas — Inspector Theodorus Ichonvarde from PFS #10-05: Mysteries Under Moonlight. Illustrated by Tadas Sidluahskas. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.

Something strange is happening to Magnimar’s beloved monuments, and its up to your PCs to find out what’s going on, and put a stop to it! But, this mystery isn’t as simple as it seems. The honourable Lord-Mayor Grobaras has hired his own investigator to look into the crimes, one who seems to be more than a little biased towards blaming the city’s Varisian population. Your players will have to investigate monuments, question witnesses, confront dangerous enemies, speak with the dead, and dabble in the occult to succeed! The three monuments featured in this scenario are the Cenotaph, Founder’s Flame, and Mistress of Angels. There’s a wide array of NPCs in this delightful adventure including Venture-Captain Shiela Heidmarch and her husband Venture-Captain Canayven Heidmarch, Mystery Cultist Davorge, Inspector Theodorus Ichonvorde, plenty of witnesses (living and dead!), an outsider, and even the ghost of one of Magnimar’s Founders: Ordellia Whilwren! Perceptive PCs can uncover a lovely little tribute to any of your players characters who permanently died during any Season 4 Scenario, or during #7-03: The Bronze House Reprisal, #7-25: Orders from the Gate, #8-01: Portent’s Peril, #8-22: Wrath of the Fleshwarped Queen, or #9-09: Beyond the Halflight Path. It’s a nice little shout-out that’s lovely to see. There’s a lot of unique and interesting social encounters in this scenario, which are really the highlight of this adventure. That said, there’s still a large number of battles in this one, so it’s going to be tricky to fit it all in. I found the final battle properly climatic and exciting, with obvious consequences for failure. The other battles aren’t particularly exciting, though. The occult rituals and objects included in this adventure are fun, and don’t bog down the game with complicated rules. I really enjoyed it (although I admit to being a sucker for the occult! Haha). I really enjoyed this scenario. It’s a fun change of pace that has a lot to offer. My only complaint? If you don’t have a good GM for this one, some sections could become repetitive. Overall, I really enjoyed it! It’s a fun, refreshing adventure that’s right up my alley! I give it four out of five stars.

Thanks for joining us today! Tune in later this week when we take a look at the final Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario that’s been released: #4: The Frozen Oath!

See ya’!

Jessica

Starfinder Society Scenarios: ‘The Protectorate Petition’ and ‘Return to Sender’

Today we’re going to take a look at the two most recent Starfinder Society Scenarios that are currently available for purchase, and let you know we thought. Although you’ll find references to events in each that I liked or disliked, and comments about specific characters, these scenarios are not explored in detail. It’s not my intention to spoil the events in these scenarios, or give summaries and full reviews, but to share my opinions and provide recommendations. That said, if you want to avoid even minor spoilers I recommend you check out a different article. Whether you intend to use them in home games of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, sanctioned scenarios for use with the Starfinder Society Organized Play, or just want to read a nifty new adventure, we’ve got you covered! So sit back, and get ready to explore the Pact Worlds!

1-22 Protectorate Petition Scenario #1-22: The Protectorate Petition is a Tier 1-4 adventure written by Mike Kimmel. It takes place on Tabrid Minor, a planet in Near Space that has a population of around two billion. The dominant race on the planet, the copaxis, have applied to the Pact Worlds for Protectorate status. The Stewards have hired the Starfinder Society to conduct an independent review of the ruins of an ancient flying city located on Tabris Minor, with the help of some locals. You’ll need to learn all you can about the cobaxis, their culture, and their history. Once you’ve got a feel for them and their past it will be your job to write a report which will either approve or deny Tabris Minor’s request for Protectorate status. This scenario features no special scenario tags, does not include starship combat, and does not continue any ongoing storylines. It makes use of Pathfinder Map Pack: Ruined Village, and Pathfinder Map Pack: Secret Rooms . In addition to the Starfinder Core Rulebook, it features content from Starfinder: Alien Archive, and Starfinder: Armory. There is a single familiar face in this scenario: the always delightful Venture-Captain Arvin, as well as a host of new NPCs. It introduces a member of the Stewards: Major Tower-9, who will hopefully be featured in another future scenario. The copaxis are a really interesting race. Each individual is actually a colony of microorganisms which live within a single humanoid-shaped exoskeleton and act as a single unit. They’re basically coral-people. There are also a lot of interesting NPCs in this scenario from among the copaxis themselves, including Bryanisis, Gnaucara, Panacula, and Therseis. My personal favourite? Less Than Three (of whom I will divulge no further details).

sfs 1-22 - protectorate petition - therseis - michele giorgi — Therseis, a copaxis from Tabris Minor featured in SFS #1-22: The Protectorate Petition. Illustrated by Michele Giorgi. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.

Exploring the ruined flying city of Tabantria is a lot of fun, with some locations already excavated and safe, and others still dangerous. There’s opportunities to glean interesting information at both types of locations, as well as copaxis researchers you can turn to for context and advice if desired. Although I don’t want to give away anything about your discoveries, I will say that things are more… complex that they seem. It’s wonderfully handled. There’s some fun battles in this scenario, all of which can provide the PCs with some information. I particularly enjoyed the new crab-like creature known as the corchaaz which can alter gravity and even use some solarian powers! Very cool. There’s no particular boons you’ll want to slot for this one, although members of the Dataphiles, Exo-Guardians, and Wayfinders all should naturally have the most interest in this scenarios goals. If you’ve got a solarian, now is a great time to play them. Solarians have a few unique benefits throughout this scenario. Overall I really enjoyed this scenario. I give it four out of five stars.

1-23 Return to Sender Scenario #1-23: Return to Sender is a Tier 5-8 adventure written by Natalie Kertzner. It takes place on the edge of the Scoured Stars trinary system, which contains three suns, and a plethora of planets. The systems within the Scoured Stars are Callion, Agillae, and Bastiar. This scenario takes place after a number of other Scoured Stars related scenarios including: #1-05: The First Mandate, #1-11: In Pursuit of the Scoured Past, #1-13: On the Trail of History, #1-17: Reclaiming the Time-Lost Tear, and the Starfinder Special: #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion. Obviously, this scenario contains some spoilers, particularly in regards to the Special. I recommend playing as many of the previous scenarios as possible, before playing this one. One very important piece of information? Jinsul are an alien species that attacked the Starfinders when they attempted to rescue their comrades from the Scoured Stars system. Although most of the Starfinders escaped, the jinsul conquered the Scoured Stars system. As to what they want next? Unknown.

sfs 1-13 - on the trail of history - jinsul ship — A jinsul ship. Originally depicted in SFS #1-13: On the Trail of History. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.

This mission begins when Historia-7 (leader of the Dataphiles) flies the PCs to a secret facility run by Radaszam (leader of the Acquisitives) and maintained for his Obsidian Spiders mercenary company. Together the duo gives the PCs an off-the-books mission. Their job? Take a recovered jinsul ship and fly to a space station on the edge of the system. Infiltrate the jinsul base, learn all you can, and destroy it (with the help of Historia-7 and Radaszam!). This scenario features the Faction (Acquisitives) and Faction (Dataphiles) tags and uses two custom maps. It features content from Starfinder: Alien Archive, but all relevant information is included in this scenario. There’s no specific boons I’d recommend slotting (other than the faction boons, of course) or classes to take. It is worth mentioning that one enemy in this scenario has an ability that could allow them to foil the operative’s trick attack ability. Return to Sender is intended to be a dangerous infiltration mission with a nerve-wracking atmosphere. You’re supposed to worry over alerting the base to your presence, while learning all you can. That said, the path laid before you is noticeably linear, with no real repercussions for being discovered. It runs the risk of feeling like a long, drawn out slug-fest. Room, fight, hack a computer. Room, fight, hack a computer. And so on. This is one of those missions that really requires a talented GM to make it shine. That said, I particularly liked the final battle, and the scenario’s cinematic ending. In my opinion the best part of this scenario was actually nothing to do with the mission at all. Throughout it the PCs get to hear Radaszam and Historia-7 banter over the comms and learn more about the duo. PCs also have the opportunity to release and befriend and adorable little alien that behaves like a goofy puppy dog and looks like a mix between a shark and an octopus, with big, cutesy eyes and a lolling tongue. This little fellow’s antics can either be played up (for groups who would enjoy some comic relief) or fall to the wayside (for groups who are enjoying a more serious, suspenseful playthrough). I think the fact that the option was given for this creature to serve different roles for different kinds of groups was a really nice addition. Although this mission will be a great fit for some players, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I give it three out of five stars.

Thanks for joining us today! I hope you enjoyed this look at the newest Starfinder Society Scenarios. We’ll be back in a few days with a look at the newest Pathfinder Society Scenarios. See you then!

Jessica

Scoured Stars Trinary System

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