Nick Logue set out to create a disturbing romp through a backwoods inbred group like the Hills Have Eyes and he was very successful. I suggest as a DM doing a bit of work on connecting it with the rest of the AP and especially what the party had been doing previously but other than that it was tough and disturbing for my group and that was the intent. Wonderful.

Inbred Ogrekin, disgusting. I really liked Skull Crossing for some reason. Probably because I never see dams used and the picture was great.

I love Mr. Logue's work, and he's written another fantastic adventure.

Unfortunately, the graphicness of the gore and disgustingness of the inbred ogre tribe made me seriously consider not running the entire adventure path. While it's possible to gloss over it, it really does have the kind of feel of going off to battle the X-Files Home episode, only it lasts about EIGHT WEEKS. I don't know if my players would be willing to tolerate this, but I'll give it a shot.

This adventure has drawn on horror, and specifically the sort of hillbilly, remote, inbred sort found in such as Deliverance, with a measure of the intensity of The Blair Witch Project thrown in.

Basically, the adventure consists of the characters being hired by the Lord Mayor of Magnimar to go find out why there has been no word from a far-distant fort that is the base of a band of rangers employed by Magnimar to keep the area's ogres in check. Of course, there's the minor matter of some 450 miles to cover, and winter is coming on... not to mention what has really been going on, which is covered in a comprehensive background section.

Once in area, the adventure proper divides into five parts. Each phase has plenty of detail, with well-rounded NPCs - even most of the ogres have their own stories, even if they are really there to be fought rather than conversed with! Locations important to the adventure have clear maps coupled with descriptions that will make them 'come alive'... in some, characters (if not their players) will need a strong stomach to avoid being distracted from combat by a bout of nausea!

A good thing about this adventure is the sheer detail and complexity of what is going on in the area, and that's not only the bad guys' plots... there is a real feeling of events taking place and life going on whether or not there happen to be any player-characters around to take a hand. It develops well too, the characters' actions will have genuine consequences, as well as the opportunity to discover hints as to what more may be in store.

Overall, it is an exciting atmospheric adventure which should give the characters a real sense of satisfaction - there may not be much wealth to be had but they will have benefited the locals greatly, and done their own reputations no harm.

The PCs must deal with the aftermath of a brutal ogre attack on a border fort.

This module was apparently cut down savagely from its original length, and it shows. Early scenes are lavishly developed while the endgame is rushed and thin. One of the most interesting parts--the floating den of vice--has been left on the cutting room floor.

What is left has well-constructed, colorful locations and NPCs, albeit unusually grisly ones. My group skipped many of the descriptions, but did not have trouble with the content itself--we just didn't need to hear all the gory details.

Some GM work may be necessary to solidify the timeline and logic flow of the adventure. The encounters are well chosen and appropriately difficult, with one possible exception.

While the module suggests that the PCs may end up taking over and managing the fort, my PCs refused, and I believe that will be the usual outcome. It is too far from the PCs' other interests and too difficult to hold.

Subsidiary materials include thumbnail sketches of every named location on the map of Varisia, which I found extremely helpful, and an article on managing a fort which I found completely unhelpful-- basically just a random event table.

This is a workable adventure with some awkward moments, mainly due to heavy cutting. Compared to previous entries it has quite a few typos, but not enough to damage its usefulness.

Pathfinder #3 The Hook Mountain Massacre is an excellent value that could have been even better.

The adventure itself is well-written, descriptive, and challenging. Some parts of the story are too graphic for me to DM as is for my players, and I will either omit or modify some sections. However, the (in my opinion) objectionable part of the Ogrekin presentation is not so far over-the-top as to make this an adventure I would not want on my shelf. Probably a little more (self) editing on the author's part would have been a prudent idea.

On the other hand, the adventure is filled with an interesting series of challenges that makes the whole story flow very smoothly and is not as predicatable as some might think when an assault on a fortress is the storyline around which the tale is built.

The Bestiary is simply superb, and these creatures add enormous value to the book.

I agree with an earlier review where it was mentioned that the space on running a fortress would have been better used expanding on the nearby town of Turtleback Ferry in some way similar to Sandpoint from Pathfinder #1 Burnt Offerings.

The Pathfinder's Journal was not as compelling as the effort from Pathfinder #2, but it was still interesting and offers promise.

Overall, with the PDF that comes with my subscription, Pathfinder #3 earns 5 stars!

Production: 5/5 - physical product is awesome with heavy-weight, glossy pages , which give the book excellent durability. The artistic style is consistent and fitting with the purpose of the adventure. The font size is slightly small, to allow for the quantity of content page limit, however reading the journal requires more focus than I'm normally used to with adventure products. PDF is very usable and allows for copy/paste for DM to create handouts/displays. I'd definitely consider this for a gift.
Mechanics: 5/5 - very minor stat-block bugs are discussed in Paizo forums. Overall though, the mechanics seem balanced and the number of mechanical issues are so low that this is probably one of the best mechanically constructed adventure products I own; the rate of problems in this one is *very* low compared with most 3.5 adventures, and those few problems that exist do not impact game flow.
Content: 3/5 - Adventure is very dark, twisted, and tough. DMs may need to tailor the adventure to the sensibilities of their group, as not all people will appreciate the level of horror and depravity in this adventure. Content was not gratuitous, but it was graphic. I think this journal missed developing the nearby town adequately

Cover: antastic, as usual. No surprises there.
Adventure itself: Very good. Grauls were amazing and fantastic at the same time(except for Mammy Graul's picture), skull's crossing was very very cool, loved the idea of branding/tattoing the citizens of the town. Wonderful stuff.
Keep article: Not super interesting, but better than I thought it would be. Learned some new stuff about different castles in Varisia, that was cool.
Gazetteer: Perfect in every way, tons of info.
Bestiary: Very very cool, especially the skull skeleton.
Journal: Best journal yet, and that's saying something.

Hello,
How do you DL the 3rd issue of this excellent campaign ? I'm a French player and my team's really excited at what's to come next ;°)
Thanks
Alex