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Pathfinder Adventure Path #25: The Bastards of Erebus (Council of Thieves 1 of 6) (PFRPG)
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 1: "The Bastards of Erebus"
by Sean K Reynolds
The city of Westcrown is dying. Since being stripped of its station as the capital of Cheliax, the wealth and prestige of the city has gradually slipped away, leaving the desperate people to fend for themselves in a city beset by criminals, a corrupt nobility, and a shadowy curse. Can the PCs fight back against champions of both the law and the criminal world?
This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Council of Thieves Adventure Path, and includes:
- "The Bastards of Erebus," a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by Sean K Reynolds
- A gazetteer of Westcrown, the shadow-haunted City of Twilight, by Steven Schend
- An investigation into the lives of tieflings, along with hundreds of fiendish variations, by Amber Scott
- A deadly mystery of nobility and intrigue for Pathfinder Varian Jeggare and his tiefling bodyguard Radovan in a new series of the Pathfinder's Jounal, by Dave Gross
- Six terrifying new monsters by Mike Ferguson, Sean K Reynolds, and F. Wesley Schneider
A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for characters of 1st to 3rd level. The Council of Thieves Adventure Path is the first to take full advantage of the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules, and works with both the Pathfinder RPG and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set.
Pathfinder Adventure Path is Paizo Publishing's monthly 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover book printed on high-quality paper. 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. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set.
ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-190-9
Note: This product is part of the
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
webmaster@paizo.com.
PZO9025
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Product Reviews (12)
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Product Discussion (308)
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Average product rating:
   
(3.7)
based on
12
reviews
This AP is flat horrible. I was hoping to find an epic transition to the pathfinder rules system and instead discovered a work in progress that requires a lot of DIY tinkering to get it to work smoothly (Note: If I had time to tinker, I would run my own adventures =). I had to spend hours prepping not only the background but tweaking the adventure itself. Overall the storyline is simple, the transitions are choppy, and considering the setting, a bit difficult to rationalize the PC's motivations (Would you work for a resistance group that, in the first encounter, is raided by the dreaded Hellknights?)The only thing that saves this book is the back half which is very well crafted and worth the price of the AP by itself.
This module is heavy on setup fluff and a bit thin on encounters. My major complaint is the large chunks of story XP to compensate for lite game content. Still, there are some very memorable moments in here, and one excellent encounter in particular that allows for some creativity and probably pleases most groups that go through it. Not the best in the AP, but enjoyable and worth doing largely because of what follows it.
This would have been a four star review, but unfortunately the editing errors, story inconsistencies, and XP problems dropped it down a notch on the reviewer scale. As a solid module, it is unfortunate that it was marred by these kinds of problems, as the kick-off into the story of intrigue behind the Council of Thieves is exciting and interesting. I strongly suggest spending some time on the messageboards reading through the posts outlining these problems as they do help the GM work through how to adjust things to eliminate the biggest concerns.
The other problem with the module revolves around the requirements of the AP itself. This AP more than any others requires very specific kinds of characters who are interested in helping the public and/or Westcrown regain its honor and brilliance in Cheliax. Selfish and evil PCs will have a much harder time integrating with the story. I suggest that GMs spend time really getting to know the entire AP before committing to it, as the brewing background story itself doesn't start picking up until the fourth module.
Through these negatives though the module is really quite a bit of fun. Sean's maze rules are fun to work with, and the encounters are exciting and diverse. You just need to get past all the rough edges to enjoy it all. As an added benefit, the included rules on Tieflings are absolutely fantastic and bring the race into the Pathfinder fold as a viable PC race. The included creature chapter has some fun lower level options as well as the return of a very iconic creature, the rot grub. The GM chapters alone make this book worth the purchase.
There is some cool material in here, but you have to put it together into encounters yourself if you want to use it. why pay money for something that still needs work?
This module is mostly just a story barely organized into sections for a GM to run. It's probably one of the worst layouts for a module I've ever read. The story and background seem interesting but to fully understand the what's going on I find the campaign book required reading.
First time GMs need not apply.
I really liked this volume. It started things off with just enough plot to get the PCs involved, and then BANG! and things go down, thrusting the PCs into action. Fighting through the first section really presented good opportunities for the players to get into character and react to one another, and my group definitely appreciated being pushed almost immediately into combat.
I will be the first to say that I am a total fangirl of this adventure path. It has such perfect flavor for one of my favorite countries, Cheliax. Where it falls short, in my estimation, is that not all parties will want to be unquestioningly fanatical devotees of good and light. This section of the AP doesn't provide very much room for the morally gray in my opinion. Nonetheless, it's well written and enjoyable and is a good lead-in to the rest of the AP. A solid three-stars.
This is one of the best kick-off adventures yet. One thing I have always found in previous APs is that they lack real PC-NPC interactions. This one makes up for that and then some. It really embodies what an Urban adventure should be.
Pretty good adventure, although it might be a bit tough for inexperienced GMs to run. But what's up with the proofreading? "See also heard the jabs and mockery the house staff heaped daily on her brother. Fiercely defensive, the noble girl once cut one of her first handmaids wirh a broken wine bottle". See instead of she? Wirh instead of with? And that's just one example in one paragraph. The adventure is full of such typos and mistake. Paizo, you could do better!
Received my copy just a few days ago - very impressive stuff! Presentation and story were both top notch.
My favorite part was the article on Tieflings. I hope Pathfinder Adventures delivers more great content like this in the months to come - additions that contribute not just to this scenario, but anything the GM is able to dream up.
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