My thoughts on the Pathfinder Society Game so far.

[athelis]

I played the first 4 Pathfinder Society Games at Gen Con this year. Now, while I had tons of fun, overall, the mods themselves were very simple and the faction missions downright lame. Now, being the start of a campaign, I can understand having simple modules to get people into/used to a new world. However, to keep people's interest it can't be

Comments

[lemuriapress]

Nice to hear some commentary on this. I thought the adventure I ran you guys through at Gen Con was pretty fun, but we all milked the roleplaying and even though I felt the scenario was light, I ended up having to cut a whole combat encounter to get to the end by the allotted time. Making sure these are of the appropriate length is going to be an ongoing challenge, but I think our coordinator (Josh) will soon develop a good sense of pacing. He is editing all of the adventures and has seen all of them in play.

That said, the whole thing is a learning process. I've played loads of LC and LG, but not all of my knowledge works in every instance, as I was completely out of org play after I moved to Seattle and missed several of the "innovations" of that period.

For example, I'd love to know more about how the Arcanis secret missions work. We're trying for something new with the faction missions, but we don't want to get too crazy with the player vs. player conflict, as that can ruin everyone's fun. It's a delicate balance, and I'm not sure we've managed to pull it off yet.

We're calling this year "Season 0" because it really is a playtest. Josh is learning a ton, our writers are learning to work within the constraints of the OP system, and we're starting to see what does and doesn't work.

There will eventually be a system in place for wholly original modules that are not written to a specific outline. Right now we're trying to be careful about what plot and world elements we reveal to people, since the whole thing is new.

I strongly suspect that the word count on these puppies will go up. Back when I was writing LG mods, they sometimes came in at 22,000 words, which is equivalent to a 32-page printed adventure. That's probably a bit much for a four-hour event, but I agree that 7000 is too small.

Please do stick with the campaign! It's going to be getting better all the time.

[athelis]

First of all, I want you to realize that I am not all down on the Pathfinder Society stuff. My post may have come across harsher then I intended. In fact, I have had a really good time so far and that game that you ran us through was crazy fun. :) And that I'm definitely not looking to quit the campaign!

Simple is not always bad - especially when a campaign is just beginning. Simple also does not mean badly written or no fun. My 'concern' mostly stemmed from my understanding of the modules submission processes and limitation which to me suggested that this simplicity was going to be the norm. And to me, while a short, happy module is fun, I really do like complexity, and to be made to think. I think it is great that you'll eventually be opening up the submission process somewhat and likely extending the length.

Honestly, I think even if you've written a million living modules or any sort of adventure, it is still going to be difficult to really know how long it is going to play out for most people. It is a very tricky balancing act and one that I've struggled with previously. I tend to be long winded and I like options. :) I don't even want to know what the official page count on that last one was - even after a bunch of editing. Heh.

As to the Arcanis secret missions, I can easily dig up a few examples for you to look over. I have to say that at times, they do pit PC's against one another which can cause an argument. Interestingly enough, while there are occasionally issues, in general I think most players deal with the conflicts maturely and it doesn't devolve into people trying to kill one another. Perhaps because PCI is open and honest that sometimes this sort of thing might occur? I'm not sure, honestly.

Regardless, I do have a lot of confidence in you guys and I suspect that any kinks are only temporary. I think it was a pretty smart move to have a 'Season 0' so that you could get the whole Organized Play thing down. And, I have to say, I was pretty impressed with how large of a crowd you had at GenCon. I think that once you get your new rules system down, those numbers will swell. I know a few people who are waiting to start the Pathfinder Society stuff for when those new rules are in use. The familiar with the new and all that.

[calentir]

You may not want to know, but the official page count of HIG8-02 Intertwined was a monstrous 78 :-p