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So since this is on back order now is there any chance of another printing? Been trying to save up enough to snag this.
Yes—the reason it's unavailable right now is because we're temporarily out of Critical Hit Decks. We're planning a minor revision and a reprint, and should have it back in stock in a couple of months.
This is a great starter for new PF GMs and Players.
I started my new PF campaign as a FLGS Demo this week with all new players with a mix of RPG experience: 1 long time veteran, 1 3.5 player, 1 recent 4E player, and 1 player new to RPGs (he played 4E once). All of them are Warhammer 40K players...so, lots of Wargame XP. So, this was a great chance to see how the rules and the box worked.
And they worked great.
I'm always wary about trying to game with a bunch of players I don;t know and who don't have a history of RPGing together.
The boxed set made that easier.
After rolling up characters, using traits and the TOS drawbacks, we had an interesting group:
Various: Elf Diviner Wizard
Zorlon: Elf Ranger (Pathfinder Trait)
Merik: Human Spellblade
Kytt: Half-Elf Rogue
we added an NPC Cleric of Shaerlyn to the mix and we had a party.
They're a little light on combat power, but they have a lot of great role playing potential. Picking traits, drawbacks, feats, and origins went VERY well, with the party trying to create real backgrounds for their characters. I let them us the item deck to look at some of the weapons to get a feel for the game world. The spellblade in particular liked the artwork.
Using the map of the forest and the inn made the initial combats and the chaos of the myteries in the inn a lot more "real" for the party. Adn when I first handed the players the Item card for Brightflame, there were murmurs of "Cool" and "That's Awesome". The fact that the dagger, in the module, had a name and a minor extra effect was a nice tough for the starting group, and, combined with the card, made this into a real item for them, not just a disposable +1 Dagger. Something they now WANT to keep their hands on.
For those of you looking for a good RPG adventure for your first game, the Module Into the Haunted Woods works great. We had a ball with the start (my players walked through the woods to the inn, using their skills a bit before even encountering the corpse).
Then the quick, easy combat followed by several strong role playing encounters gave everyone a feel for Pathfinder and a chance to use a lot of their abilities up front. It also set the stage that PF is more than just a hack and slash game. And the module is written well enough so that when the players, inevitably, go off script, you have the resources and details available to keep it going. (One of the players, upon entering the inn, went up to the Shroud Archiver instead of sitting at the table, forstalling the barfight for quite some time and changing the attitudes of the innstaff after the theft of the knife).
So, great module, great props (though my players had more need for the critical fumble deck instead of the critical hit deck...) and a good start for new players for Pathfinder. And we're only through part one of the adventure.
Spectators who arrived late saw the game and at least one of them is showing up next week to join the group (probably replacing the NPC cleric) and we might gain a few more. I'd love a 6 player group.
One final note: one of the great things about the combined role-playing and mystery hooks in this adventure is that it forces the players to learn to work together. I'm planning on running Burnt Offerings next, and the added XP for a low-combat team combined with the experience of working as a team will prepare them for the much deadlier Adventure Path.
One other note for the GM who disliked the animal encounters (wolf, bear, dog, etc.).
I agree but it's easy enough to swap in other monsters to make this interesting.
I used Giant Rats in place of the dogs (check for disease), Centipedes near the rabbit trap, and turned the bear into a Zombie Bear (covered in poisonous mushrooms...curse of the Haunted Woods).
I had 5-6 players at each session (this took 3 weeks to run at the FLGS and the players hired/convincced Estle the Witch to come along with them after befreinding her...) so I increased the number of rats and centipedes (and included a Fighter 1 and Barbarian 1 with the Black Banner) but the adventure as a whole worked well.
Because fo the way it is written, this module slides in weel into any good forest campaign, as the actual forest name isnt all that important.
And as a final note...the Wood Protector was great! REally got the heroes working together to bring it down.
Thread necromancy to ask a question: How much for just the box?
I ask because I located one of the last copies of this set at another site, and have since noted that it does a wonderful job of holding the Flip Mats as well as the Map Packs, being precisely the right size, but I now have too many to have them fit in one box.
And, since I understand the Woodlands flip-mat is never going back into print, and thus the set will not be sold as a set again, is there a possibility to get the Treasure Chest box by itself?
Thread necromancy to ask a question: How much for just the box?
I ask because I located one of the last copies of this set at another site, and have since noted that it does a wonderful job of holding the Flip Mats as well as the Map Packs, being precisely the right size, but I now have too many to have them fit in one box.
And, since I understand the Woodlands flip-mat is never going back into print, and thus the set will not be sold as a set again, is there a possibility to get the Treasure Chest box by itself?
Talk to Customer Service. I think we still have some empty boxes laying around. They should be able to get you an empty box for $2 or so.
-Lisa