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Pathfinder #2—Rise of the Runelords Chapter 2: "The Skinsaw Murders" (OGL)
Paizo Publishing, LLC
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Print Edition:
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$19.99
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PDF:
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$13.99
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Chapter 2: "The Skinsaw Murders"
by Richard Pett
A sudden string of brutal killings terrorizes Sandpoint, and the killer’s mark bears a disturbing similarity to the strange rune the goblins in the previous adventure had taken as their tribal totem. Investigation leads the heroes to confront a sinister murderer who has claimed a notorious haunted mansion as his lair. Yet this murderer is one of many, a member of a group of killers who call themselves the Skinsaw Men and have adopted an ancient magic involving the seven deadly sins. The PCs must travel to the bustling city of Magnimar to unravel the truth behind the rune, but in so doing may become prime suspects in the killings themselves!
This volume of Pathfinder includes a detailed description of the city of Magnimar, several new monsters, and a detailed description of the goddess of dreams and travel, Desna, along with notes on her faithful.
For characters of 4th to 6th level.
Pathfinder is Paizo Publishing's 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover Adventure Path book printed on high-quality paper that releases in a monthly volume. Each volume is brought to you by the same staff which brought you Dragon and Dungeon magazines for over five years. It contains an in-depth Adventure Path scenario, stats for about a half-dozen new monsters, and several support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Because Pathfinder uses the Open Game License, it is 100% compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-037-7
NOTE: An additional map of Magnimar may be found in the Paizo Blog entry for July 27, 2007.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
webmaster@paizo.com.
Product Reviews
Average product rating:
(4.8)
based on
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review.
"The Skinsaw Murders" is another great entry in the Pathfinder adventure path. The adventure, set in a truly nasty haunted house, is properly frightening; the main villains are all horrid (the Skinsaw Man in particular!); and the backup articles covering the city of Magnimar and the worship of Desna are well written and informative enough to spark many adventure ideas.
My own favorite bit, though, would be the treatment of hauntings as traps or hazards, thereby making them an active part of the adventure being played through rather then something nebulous in the background. It's one of those simply brilliant ideas that makes you wonder, "Why didn't anyone else ever come up with that?"
One minor complaint: I wish we could have gotten some tips on what happens when Iesha meets Aldern. That would have been memorable!
This is a very nice adventure, with interesting twists and turns, good rp sequences and fights. As mentioned elsewhere, some links are week, but this is only a minor complaint. The major negative point is the BBEG, who is way over the top and is a guranteed TPK if not opposed by rock hard min-maxers or played with lenience. If you know before it is easily toned down.
We enjoyed the whole thing.
Below is an exerpt from my blog (see profile for link) of the review I wrote on PF#2
Artwork
The artwork in Pathfinder #2 is notably better than Pathfinder #1, as most of the cartoonish art has been removed. The cover is by Wayne Reynolds, and he has created a wonderfully evocative piece that really captures the spirit of the adventure, and he has included the manor in the background, which plays a prominent role. The interior is full color, and fits in with the tone and theme of the module. The cartography is excellent, and I am again reminded how far we have come with regards to the presentation of maps in adventures. They really have moved beyond simply being maps and are an integral part of the overall art scheme.
Summary
There are three main parts of this module. There is the introduction, in which the sheriff asks the characters to investigate a series of murders that are occurring in the Sandpoint area. The investigation leads up to part two which is the haunted manor. Upon completing the exploration of the manor, part three of the adventure has the characters head to Magnimar to chase down the Skinsaw cultists and ultimately confront the BBEG, which is taken from the bestiary found in the back of the book.
Key features
1. A gothic horror style adventure
2. The fully mapped out haunted manor
3. Haunts, which is a new look at traps.
4. The gazetteer of Magnimar.
Final notes
Simply put, this adventure rocks. I really liked the mood and tone of the adventure. The haunted house is wonderfully writing and is small enough that one could easily pull it out and use it for a one day mega adventure or split it up over a couple of nights. As a criticism, one can easily argue that the plot is too linear, and that there is a natural progression to the adventure that makes it tough to go out of sequence. I agree that his is true; however the strength of the encounters and the modular design makes this easy for me to overlook.
The Skinsaw Murders quickly became one of my all time favorite adventures... ever!
Without spoiling the best parts, Pett developed a fantastic mechanic to recreate the best hauntings of the best horror flicks. A whole flavor of horror stories have been missing for decades, and now Pett brings hauntings alive in a way that will leave your players screaming in terror as they flee and die.
The only drawback is there are several spots that could be potential Total Party Kills. Not for the feint hearted. A great story ties it all together with a classic haunted house location and more!
Turn down the lights, put out some candles, and some spooky music and watch your players tremble in terror!
Well, aparently the second adventure of the 2 complete APs is better than the first! looking foward for the second adventure of SD!
The adventure starts out on a firm "detective-like" setting, which by the way I found very nicely aid.
The second big part of the adventure takes a very interesting turn into a horror-style adventure (more "haunted" maybe) and introduces a great set of rules for this kind of adventure. This alone is very well worth a star!.
The second part of RotRL is basically two adventures in one: first you get to brave the horrors of a haunted mansion, and second you get to track a sinister cult in a sprawling metropolis.
The first part is easily 5 stars - the Haunts are a great concept, the fights are memorable (Ghoul Bat, ouch !) and as usual the thing I love about Paizo's adventures - the amazing amount of detail and GM-helpful little things that help to flesh out the environs and NPCs, making them so much memorable than the "you see a room and it's a ...erm... room".
The second part keeps up the story standard, but I found it somewhat hard to picture (and describe to my players) some locales, I guess the mapwork was a bit iffy. And despite the excellent chapter on Magnimar, I still had to do a lot of GM homework to cater for players who kicked off with the usual "a big city, let's do ten thousand silly things" routine. WTB Guide to Magnimar, akin to the Korvosa one !
And of course, the TPK final boss, which required me to wrestle with re-statting to make it somewhat more manageable. Grrr... Playtest the boss fights I say !
As a hint for fellow GMs - I used "The Menagerie" from Dungeon 126 as a side-trek in Magnimar, worked like a charm !
The Desna article was really nice and the new monsters were, as usual, a nice addition.
This is arguably the best undead-based adventure I've seen, and many appear to agree with me -- it sold out first, and it got up to 150 pounds on Ebay. If you haven't read this, pick it up when it reprints next month.
I hate to be a party-pooper but the Skinsaw Murders still doesn't make it to the all-time greats that everyone is ranting about.
Firstly, I'm not a PF hater (look into my nick and you'll see I'm a die-hard subscriber of many), instead I'm a game lover. I've read extensively and as such, Skinsaw Murders will only be ranked as above average. Why?
(1) Game hook is too weak - a good game needs a really good hook to involve the players. Of course the DM can think of something (which I did) but the writer should have done this. It's part of the game. Why will player go to foxglove manor? Why go to Magnimar? Why even kill ZZZZ? Is it that important to do so? What if the players miss the lead in the manor? How will the players know that XXXX is the cause of all the problems? Was it mention in the manor climax?
(2) Passive villains - again and like many other rpg games, the villains are way too passive. No doubt XXXX, YYYY and ZZZZ had done evil things according to the writer's synopsis but will the players know? Are they actively seeking out the players or like YYYY and ZZZZ waiting at the final point for the players to turn up and fight it out? Good villains should be involved along the plot, dropping hints of their (mis)doings or frustrating the players at certain points. In Skinsaw murders? Nope. I had to improvise here again.
(3) Too much is too little - The Foxglove manor is definitely creepy and innovative in its handling (although it was done before by other writer, can't remember which game) but throughout, it is just like this. This haunting and that haunting...room after room. Possibly the players found its a relief to meet XXXX and have a good fight with him.
Well, I'm off to read the Hook Mountain Massacre. I hope that it doesn't disappoint.
Great story, great villains, great original monsters. Watch out, though, one of the final bosses is a TPK waiting to happen.
Issue number two is great. In particular the role-playing and the haunted manor. This one really helps to shape characters and relationships for the future even more so than issue one. Easy to play and fun.
Product Discussion
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posts.
See all discussion for this product.
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Like I said still good product guys keep it up. I am looking foreward to seeing the whole AP. After that maybe I'll think about canceling. ;)
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The word you were looking for in your review was "chord"...something strikes a chord in you.
What? Just sayin'.
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Hideously Deformed wrote:
The word you were looking for in your review was "chord"...something strikes a chord in you.
What? Just sayin'.
yeah yeah... my spelling sucks...
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Amazing job! I'm eagerly awaiting more.
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Fantastic product. Good to see a change of pace IMO. Excellent production values. Though I thought a read, "More maps of Magnimar showing exact district borders, avenue and plaza names, and the precise location of numerous locales can be found in the downloadable content for this volume, available at paizo.com/pathfinder."
Am I missing it or is it just not obvious enough for the likes of me?
Keep up the great work, you have earned my renewal and I look forward to more from this great product.
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PZO9002
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damnitall22
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Companion Subscriber),
Eric Stelle,
