This week brings us some exciting news in the world of Starfinder and Pathfinder. We’ve talked a lot about the changes coming to the Pathfinder Society when Pathfinder Second Edition gets released next year. Paizo has released multiple blog posts and surveys on the subject, and has some threads on their message boards where you can put forth your ideas and opinions. Which is great! Your opinions can help shape the future of the Pathfinder Society. This week brings us to the last of these blog posts.
So what did they talk about?
Lots!
Sigil of the Open Road, the symbol of the Pathfinder Society.
Although, most of the information amounted to a sort of… we’re changing this, but we haven’t quite decided how. A fair point when the rules for Pathfinder Second Edition are still in flux.
Fame and Prestige will likely follow Starfinders lead and be called Reputation and Fame. In addition, you’ll be allowed to earn fame in multiple factions if you so choose. Another nice improvement inspired by Starfinder Society play. ‘Prestige’, whatever it comes to be called, will also be more useful. You’ll be able to acquire special boons — some general and some faction specific — for your characters.
How we gain access to magical items is also going to change. Likely, this will involve item rarity and item level, but the details will depend on how Pathfinder 2 shakes out.
Infamy, much like that used in the Starfinder Society, is also going to be introduced.
One of my favourite changes? Schools. Nearly all Pathfinders undergo training at the Grand Lodge and specialize in one of three schools: Scrolls, Spells, or Swords. Scrolls is taught by Kreighton Shane and focuses on learning and diplomacy. Spells is taught by Sorrina Westyr and focuses on magical prowess. Swords is taught by Marcos Farabellus and focuses on martial might and physical fitness. Deciding which of the schools your character favours most is now going to be a choice you can make at character creation. For what? Well, they’re not sure yet. We’ll have to wait and see.
Which brings us to the most exciting aspect of this week’s Pathfinder Society changes: factions. Factions are getting a major shake-up! Some factions will be retired as their goals have been accomplished. Some will find their stories come to a close during Season 10. Others will remain but have changes of leadership. So what’s changing exactly? Unknown! That’s why they’d like your input! They’ve compiled a list of general concepts for factions and want you to let them know which ones you like best. Got an idea for another major character motivation for Pathfinders? Share them! Also, they want to know your opinions on which faction leaders should stay an go. Help them out by heading over to their survey and filling it out: Faction Survey.
In other news, Starfinder Wednesday put out another awesome episode. And this one dropped a BOMB! Starfinder will soon be putting out a playtest for NEW CLASSES!
SO EXCITING!
Want more details?
So do I! More information will be coming out on the Paizo Blog on Monday, December 3rd. Be sure to check it out! I know I will!
Whew, it’s been a busy week! Where has the time gone? No matter! Today we’re taking a break to talk about the future of the Pathfinder Society! With the release of Pathfinder 2 next year, there’s going to be a lot of changes to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Lucky for us, Paizo wants our input! A while ago we did a recap of all the surveys you can give them your feedback on, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly suggest you do! This week there’s one more topic to add to the list: Rewards.
The Glyph of the Open Road, symbol of the Pathfinder Society.
For those of you who don’t know, GMs who run adventures are rewarded Stars in Pathfinder Society Play, or Novas in Starfinder Society Play, to show their experience and dedication to the game. Achieving a star brings with it some benefits, bragging rights and, in the case of that coveted fifth and final star, a shout out on Paizo’s blog. Obtaining five star GM status is a TON of work, and those gamers who earn one deserve every bit of prestige that comes with it. But those stars are for Pathfinder. Not Pathfinder 2. With the games being so different, they need a new symbol to track GMs experience with the new system. Currently there’s two main suggestions: The Gylph of the Open Road, which is the logo of the Pathfinders (and will be called ‘glyphs’) and the Sihedron, which is the seven pointed star of the ancient Thassilon (which will be called sigils). Personally, I’m fully behind the GLYPHS option. It just makes sense. And the Gylph of the Open Road looks awesome! Want to let your opinion on the matter be known? Vote in the poll and let your voice be heard.
The Sihedron of Ancient Thassilon.
So what else is changing? Well, this next one is huge. The fate of the current Pathfinder Society Organized Play. There are ten seasons worth of awesome adventures available for us to play. But what happens if you’ve played most of them and you want to keep going? What happens if you don’t want to play Pathfinder 2? The good news is you can keep playing Pathfinder Society Scenarios as long as people keep GMing them. But what happens when you’ve played them all? Should replaying scenarios be much easier? In short, Paizo has three options for future replays, which I’ll quote below:
Option 1: A modest, fixed number of replays that would renew on a seasonal basis. These replays would not be level or character locked and would give opportunities to progress new characters through old stories or seat players who have already completed an adventure so that a full table can be formed.
Option 2: A more generous but fixed number of replays for all players and GMs. This would work much like option 1, except instead of a small pool that would refresh each season, you’d get a larger pool to spend at your discretion. However, with this option once you’ve used all of your replays, that’s it.
Option 3: A sliding scale, fixed number of replays based on a percentage of total games played. This option would work much like option 2, except instead of everyone getting the same number of replays, the quantity of replays offered would scale up based on the number of games you’ve completed. This option would likely include a weighting mechanism whereby the number of GM stars you possess add some number of additional replays, rewarding our most devoted players and GMs with additional replays. One distinct benefit we see in this option is that it will help normalize the progress of groups with a mix of new and long-time players; long-time players will have more replays since they have fewer unplayed scenarios available to pick from, and newer players should find that it’s easier to get tables for the remaining scenarios they still haven’t played.
Now, all those options seem viable, but only the top option would allow players to continue playing indefinitely. I’m fully behind Option 1. Got an opinion? Head on over to Paizo’s blog post on the topic and leave a comment with you vote!
Also on that same blog post you’ll find information for a model they’ve created to reward experienced players who have unused convention and GM boons, by using them instead in a sort of prize table to cause powerful, limited use effects in Pathfinder Society 2 Organized Play. For full details I suggest reading their blog. Like the idea — I know I do — then leave a comment! They want to hear your feedback.
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!
Katapesh is a strange place, and the city itself if home to not one, but four Pathfinder Lodges. The most senior Venture-Captain is Roderus who runs a lodge out of his inn and handles all missions that take place outside of the city. The most secure and respected Venture-Captain is Aurora Steelbloom, who runs the grandest lodge in the city at the ruins known as the Twilight Gate. Jurisdiction for the rest of the city is split between Venture-Captain Wulessa Yuul, and Venture-Captain Phlegos Dulm. Unfortunately, these two bicker and fight constantly. So, when the aged Venture-Captain Roderus decides its finally time for him to retire, he’s more than a little uneasy! How can he leave the fate of Pathfinders in Katapesh in the hands of a pair of agents who can’t even follow one of the three main Pathfinder creeds: COOPERATE? This adventure tasks the PCs with working at Roderus’ retirement party. They’ll have to serve drinks, entertain guests, clean up, keep order, and perform other menial tasks. Using their mundane duties as a cover they’ll need to spy on the Venture-Captains in question (Dulm and Yuul), ferret out the truth from rumours, and determine if these two Pathfinders can work together, or are trying to sabotage one another. If the PCs uncover any wrongdoing they’ll need to report to Roderus and delve deeper into the investigation, until the facts come to light and Roderus has enough peace of mind to retire. Players and GMs looking for more information on the featured Venture-Captains can check out Seekers of Secrets or (to a lesser extent) Dark Markets: A Guide To Katapesh.
This scenario had a lot going for it. It has a lot of fun, engaging social encounters that feature a ton of colourful characters. Zig and Yigrig Moneymaker were particular favourites of mine (as I suspect they will be for many players). Zig’s scripted examples of assistance he can lend during the opening retirement party are adorable. There’s a great dynamic evening battle featuring both allies and enemies which promises to be entertaining. Finally, the inclusion of Yigrig Moneymaker’s family is a great segue that can lead to goblins becoming a core race in Pathfinder Second Edition next year. Overall, I really enjoyed this scenario. I give it four out of five stars.
In the previous adventure, Magnimar found its beloved monuments corrupted by some foul source. The PCs worked for Venture-Captain Shiela Heidmarch and the Varisian Council, made an enemy of the occult investigator Theodorus Ichonvarde, saved a servant of the goddess Ashava, discovered the identity of the being behind the corruption (whom we will call only by their name, Tulvhatha, to avoid too many spoilers), and the place they can be found (The Glade of Silver Sparks) which was once a holy site to Ashava. In addition, the PCs were likely granted a blessing, which can be granted to all characters participating in this adventure if they will allow him to do so. This adventure tasks the PCs with travelling through the Mushfens, confronting Tulvhatha, and doing what they can to cleanse the area of evil. Characters who have already played the first in this series of adventures will of course have more reason to participate in this one. But, characters who worship Ashava, have an interest in moonlight, dancing, or putting spirits to rest, or have connections to lycanthropy will all find something special to interest them in this scenario. On a similar note, if you have any characters who have a lot of fears, or who you would enjoying roleplaying their response to their fears at a table, I highly recommend you bring them! This is a spooky adventure, and embracing that atmosphere can be a lot of fun. One final note, if you happen to have a horrible fear of werewolves (like my daughter) or spirits this is NOT the scenario for you!
This scenario had an wonderful haunting tone to it. The environment was appropriately ominous, of course, but many of the encounters themselves often played into the horror theme. Not a gory sort of horror. More of a moody, hopeless, suspenseful sort of horror. I ADORED it. The scenario starts with some minor (but fun) roleplaying encounters. The blessing which your characters can accept is awesome! I adored the first major encounter of this scenario. In addition to bringing back another character from the first scenario in this series, it could cause some healthy discussion as to the fate of your opponents (depending upon the alignments we see on the player’s side of the table). There’s a delightful chase in this scenario, which has very clear repercussions for failure. I absolutely loved it! Although, it should be noted, I’m a sucker for a good, purposeful chase. The haunts in this scenario were exceptionally well-done. Particularly the one that plays upon your character’s fears. Embracing that horror theme with my characters is something I always enjoy as a player, so I can’t wait to toss one of my more expressive characters into this mission! And the final battle with the main villain was both memorable, flavourful, an mechanically difficult. Just awesome. But my favourite part? This scenario features the coolest wolf encounter in existence! It’s going to be so much fun! Overall I loved this scenario. Seriously. Loved it. I give it five out of five stars!
I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at this months newest Pathfinder Society Scenarios with me. I know I enjoyed reading them!
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!
Starfinder Society Scenario #1-24: Siege of Enlightenment is a Tier 1-4 adventure written by Tineke Bolleman. It takes place on Sansorgis, which is a planet in the Acalata system. It’s a dry place poorly suited to agriculture, but rich in mineral deposits. There players will help with the evacuation of a mining colony, attempt to peacefully navigate some space politics, and explore some Pre-Gap ruins. This scenario features starship combat. It utilizes Starfinder Flip-Mat: Basic Starfield , Starfinder Flip-Mat: Space Station, and Pathfinder Flip-mat: Ancient Dungeon. It makes use of the Starfinder Core Rulebook, Starfinder Alien Archive, Starfinder Alien Archive 2, and the Starfinder Armory. That said, all of the relevant information from both Alien Archives is included within the scenario itself. Siege of Enlightenment does not continue any ongoing storylines, and the only recurring character within it is Venture-Captain Arvin. There are a few interesting characters introduced in this scenario, including then hobgoblin Captain Odrakor of Susumu’s Sword, half-elven Corporal Kalyavata, and the human Chief Engineer Kerchatu. Unfortunately, roleplaying with such characters will be quite brief. There’s also some delightfully entertaining enemies (the first one is particularly fun)! There are no specific boons I’d suggest slotting for this scenario, although I will say that having a few characters trained in Computers and Engineering on your team is very important, and that such characters with have the opportunity to do something special during parts of the adventure. On a similar note, scholarly and studious characters — particularly those interested in archaeology, cartography, chronicling, history, and scribing — will also find opportunity to showcase their interests in this scenario.
Siege of Enlightenment begins in a mission briefing with Venture-Captain Arvin, where he tasks the PCs with helping a mining colony in Near Space evacuate, and then exploring a ruin. Sounds simple, right? Not quite. This scenario involves a bit of space politics which mostly occurs behind the scenes, but is important to understanding the mission. Basically, it involves two different groups who have each have their own space empire in Near Space: the Marixah Republic (a multi-cultural group containing many races from lost Golarion which the Pact Worlds trades with), and the Gideron Authority (a militaristic, predominantly hobgoblin group that the Pact Worlds has few ties with). Both of these groups are independent of the Pact Worlds, rule their own star systems, and have colonies outside of their systems. Following a military coup, the Gideron Authority turned its attentions to conquest, and the two space governments have been cautiously circling each other since. Recently, the Gideron Authority appeared around the planet Sansorgis, collected information on the Marixah Republic’s mining colonies with their long-range sensors, then left. Worried that they would soon fall under attack, the Marixah Republic ordered the evacuation of the colonies. Knowing that they wouldn’t have time to excavate a nearby ruin on their own (and not wanting it to fall into the Gideron Authority’s hands), the Marixah Republic offered the right of exploration to the Starfinder Society in exchange for aid with evacuating the final colony. It is into this political turmoil that your players will travel. Characters will get to interact with both the Marixah Republic and the Gideron Authority, lend a hand to some people in need, explore an important historical site, learn some secrets, and kick some ass. The first physical combat is very interesting and should be a lot of fun at the table, but it’s very complex, so GMs will need to familiarize themselves with it thoroughly before attempting to run the battle. Despite the complexity (and the very dense map), I think it’s going to be a hoot! In the ruins there’s the addition of a simple new mechanic called Discovery Points, which are meant to track how much your players discover and catalogue about the ruins, without bogging down gameplay too much. Although such tracking will all happen on the GM side of the screen, I think it’s wonderful that your player’s thoroughness will be rewarded. It is supposed to be an archaeological investigation, after all. I love that this scenario featured so many new creatures from the recently released Alien Archive 2. I did have one major complaint, though. This scenario is very combat heavy! It contains one starship battle, four other combats, two traps, plus one of those listed combats is likely to also contain at least two hazards and traps (possibly more). That’s a LOT. All in all, even though this isn’t my favourite scenario it has some fun encounters and is a great choice for characters who just want to get into some good old fashioned fights. As an added bonus this scenario is perfectly set up to lead to more scenarios involving the Marixah Republic, the Gideron Authority, and the ancient ruins, which is always great to see. I give this scenario three out of five stars.
Starfinder Society Scenario #1-25: The Beacon Code Dilemma is a Tier 3-6 adventure written by Adrian Ng. It begins in The Starfinder Society’s Lorespire Complex in Absalom Station where you’ll do some research for an upcoming mission, and heads into the Drift where you’ll explore a recently discovered Starfinder vessel that’s been missing in action for over a hundred years. This scenario features the REPEATABLE tag. That’s right. It’s a tier 3-6 repeatable adventure! AWESOME! Although this scenario doesn’t continue any ongoing storylines it does have cameos from a lot of different characters featured in other adventures which I absolutely adore. The Beacon Code Dilemma doesn’t have starship combat. It makes use of one custom map and heavy use of Starfinder Flip-Mat: Ghost Ship. In addition to the Starfinder Core Rulebook this scenario uses content from the Starfinder Alien Archive, Starfinder Alien Archive 2, Starfinder Armory, and Starfinder Pact Worlds. That said, all of the information from the Alien Archives that is needed to run this scenario is included within the scenario itself.
As already mentioned, this scenario features a lot of recurring characters. The bleaching gnome Venture-Captain Naiaj is certain to appear. Of the other four major recurring characters, two will appear in each playthrough (because it’s a repeatable scenario which two are featured will be determined at random by your GM). Depending on which two are featured you’ll want to have different boons slotted, and possibly even bring along different characters. If the ysoki Royo is featured you’ll want to slot ‘High Society Influence (Royo)’ which is from Starfinder Society Scenario #1–05: The First Mandate. If Whisperer of Solar Winds is featured you’ll want to slot the ‘Dream Whispers’ boon which is from Starfinder Society Scenario #1–16: Dreaming of the Future. If the shirren Chiskisk is featured you’ll want to slot a chronicle sheet from Starfinder Adventure Path 1: Incident at Absalom Station (Dead Suns Book 1 of 6). And finally, if Venture-Captain Arvin is featured you’ll want to slot the ‘Starfinder Insignia’ boon from Starfinder Society Quests: Into the Unknown. Unfortunately, although you can choose which boons to slot after the briefing (and therefore can slot appropriate boons) there’s no way to know which characters you’ll be interacting with beforehand (so you might not slot the characters with the appropriate boons). Luckily, it’s repeatable, so you can give it a shot with all of your characters if you want to. And, if you’re really lucky, perhaps your GM will tell you ahead of time.
The Beacon Code Dilemma begins when Venture-Captain Naiaj calls you in for a mission briefing in the Lorespire Complex. There they meet a new character: an SRO priest of Triune by the name of MP-8 from Aballon. MP-8 was blessed with a holy vision from which he deciphered a beacon code. Knowing that this must be a mission of the utmost importance he put together a team and followed the coordinates into the Drift where they found a lost Starfinder vessel called the Amber Reconnoiter. Unfortunately, the ship opened fire on them. Surprised, an not wanting to risk damaging the very ship they were sent to find, MP-8 retreated and contacted the Starfinder Society. Naiaj tasks the group with researching the ship, then heading out into the Drift to explore the vessel, find out what happened to it, and retrieve whatever object it is within that MP-8 is after. As this scenario is repeatable, a lot of aspects are determined randomly. Where you need to do your research within the Lorespire Complex, who you interact with, the crew of the Amber Reconnoiter, their mission’s purpose, and how they met their end (and therefore which handouts you receive), are all obvious examples of randomized aspects. In addition, there’s a wide variety of environmental factors and enemy abilities that are also determined randomly. I absolutely loved this, and was surprised how thorough it was. Really well done!
Whatever random options are determined for your playthrough, characters will need to do some research on the Amber Reconnoiter in two different locations in the Lorespire Complex in order to learn what they can about the ship and determine the codes to shut down the ship’s automated defences. Some of those locations feature new characters as well, my favourite of which is the overly chipper Recordbot-128 in the Halls of Discovery. From there you’ll head out into the Drift and travel to the Beacon Code. Once there you’ll need to navigate through a planar storm, then spacewalk over to the wreck through a debris field (which has an awesome map!), fight off some creatures native to the Drift, and board the Amber Reconnoiter. But, that’s just the start of your mission. You’ll need to explore the wreck, figure out what happened to its crew, and find the object MP-8 is after.
I really enjoyed this mission. I love that is gives you a chance to explore some locations within the Lorespire Complex and actually research something — which should be an important part of being a Starfinder. I loved that we got to really engage in some of the hazards of Drift travel through the planar hazards, battle, and exploring the debris field (which I thought was super cool!). And finally, I loved the how the purpose and fate of the Amber Reconnoiter changes in each playthrough, along with the wonderful player handouts that come with each of those options. One of my only pet peeves was that some of the interactions on the Amber Reconnoiter mention sound when the ship does not currently have artifical atmosphere. It is mentioned that the PCs can repair the power core enough to restore atmosphere (and therefore let sound travel), but many of the things that happen before you’ll have a chance to do so (including enemy tactics) mentions or presupposes sound travelling through the ship. I found it odd. Still, it’s a small quibble that GMs should make note of before running it. Visual cues can easily be used in place of audible ones until atmosphere is restored. In terms of boons there are two up for offer. One is a nice Starship boon that’s useful in the Drift, and one is a slotless limited use boon that can help you get a bit more bang for your buck. Again, this scenario has a lot of gear options available on its chronicle sheet. Overall, I really enjoyed this scenario and can’t wait to give it a play. I give it four out of five stars.
I hope you enjoyed taking a look at these new scenarios with us. We’ll see you again soon when we dive into the new Pathfinder Society Scenarios!
Until then,
Jessica
Susumu’s Sword is a Gideron Authority ship under the command of Captain Odrakar. Featured in Starfinder Society Scenario #1-24: Siege of Enlightenment. Art by Graey Erb.MP-8 a, SRO devotee of Triune appearing in Starfinder Society Scenario #1-25: The Beacon Code Dilemma. Art by Michele Giorgi.
Big news for the Starfinder Society today, as the Starfinder Guild Guide has a new update. Now that’s a Halloween treat! There’s some pretty awesome changes this update will be bringing to Starfinder Society Organized Play, but first, lets start small…
There’s changes to the rebuilding rules for characters and personal boons. There are new, expanded, and edited faction boons. The Wayfinders new capstone boon allows you to play as a ghibrani (YAY!), while the Exo-Guardians new capstone boon allows you to use a whole new starship: the Gorgon. The instructions for filling out chronicle sheets have been updated, vehicle tags and vanity boons have been mentioned, UPBs can be bought in any quantity, the Drake’s been edited. And… well there’s plenty of other minute changes you probably won’t notice on a read through. In fact, some of the small changes we named you probably won’t notice either.
But, you know what you will notice?
A new faction! Second Seekers (Jadnura) is now a faction you can join! First Seeker Jadnura was previous lost in the Scoured Stars Trinary system and was recently freed by the Starfinders, led by First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo. Oh, the drama! Be sure to check out this faction’s boons, as some are pretty nifty!
And, my favourite change? All legacy races have been included as playable races available to everyone! Yes! Dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, half-elves, and half-orcs, can now be played by all! *happy dance*
But wait?! What about those boons you may have earned which let you play as a specific legacy race? Never fear! Those boons can be used to increase a single ability score under fourteen by +2 on your existing characters with that race. For special GM boons this will not take up a personal boon slot, while with boons earned through a scenario (such as halfling admittance or dwarf admittance boons) it will take up the personal boon slot.
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!
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 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!
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.
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!
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 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!
With the launch of Pathfinder 2 next year and the end of Season 10 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, there will be a lot of changes. The Pathfinder Society will be no different. They’ll be switching to the new rules and, since they’ll be changing that up, they’re taking the opportunity to shake things up in the Society as well.
That’s where you come in!
The folks over at Paizo have put together a series of surveys meant to gauge your opinions on a variety of topics regarding the society, and it’s future. So if you want a chance to help shape the Pathfinder Society of tomorrow, now’s you’re chance!
The first survey was released a month ago and asks questions about tiers, experience, and the roleplaying guild guide. After that came a survey about boons, and another survey about chronicle sheets. The chronicle survey asked questions about five different potential layouts for future chronicle sheets, examples of which can be found on Paizo’s blog post here (before you click the survey like be sure to check out the chronicle examples!).
The latest survey came out just this week. It’s topic? Pregenerated characters. Now, I personally don’t utilize them, but I do understand their importance. For many people (particularly at conventions and gaming shops) their first experience with Pathfinder is through pregenerated characters in the Pathfinder Society. This means that whether or not you personally use them, they’re important. This survey references various potential layouts for pregenerated characters, so before you fill out the survey be sure to check out the visual examples (which can be found on Paizo’s blog post here).
Be sure to share your opinions while you can! I’m not sure how long those surveys will remain active.
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: 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!
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.
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 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.
“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.
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
My son desperately wanted his picture featured on d20diaries. This was our compromise. Haha.
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.
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!
(although all of the necessary stat blocks are included within the scenario) and utilizes 
and two custom maps. This mission is of particular importance to members of the Liberty’s Edge faction. Characters (or players) who have played 
or (to a lesser extent) 
it makes use of the 
. It features creatures from 
, and 
(although all of the necessary stat blocks are included within the scenario) and utilizes 
, and a gorgeous custom map.
, 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!
, 
, and 
. It makes use of the 
, 
by F. Wesley Schneider. Following that is #
by Tito Leati, #
by Ron Lundeen, #
by Richard Pett, #
by John Compton, and it finishes with #
by Jim Groves. I also highly recommend picking up 
to go with it if you intend to play this wonderfully creepy campaign. The Player’s Guide is a 
by Richard Pett, #
by Tim Hitchcock, #
by Greg A. Vaughan, #
by F. Wesley Schneider, and concludes with #
by Brandon Hodge. The Player’s Guide is a 
by Jenny Jarzabski, and culminates in January with #
by Saif Ansari.
This is your chance to shape the future!
(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.
, by Day Pilkey.
mystery novels, 
books, the 
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.
. For more information on the Lands of the Linnorm Kings check out 
. This scenario utilizes 
, 
, and a custom map of Dvalinheim.
d20 Diaries 