---- May 18, 2015 Review as a GM ----
CURRENT RATING: 4 Stars
I GM'd this scenario yesterday as a CORE scenario for seven players. While not the ideal number of players, it was a fantastic group, ranging from experienced PFS players (some of whom had already played Wounded Wisp non-Core, two of whom were from my group in my below player review) all the way to a player who was playing his first Pathfinder game EVER. All PC's were level 1.
While this scenario needed quite a bit of prep work, I feel it was well worth the time put in. Now having read the scenario and worked with the content, I feel it does a much better job of making the players feel valued and putting them on an exciting and mysterious adventure than my own player experience let on.
I have a big problem with scenarios (whether it is in the writing or the GMing) that give the impression that the pathfinder PCs mean little to the VO NPCs involved in sending them on their missions. As a player, Dreng's task and Heryn Gale's reactions made it seem as if us "novices" were absolutely getting messed with, like the whole thing was a big joke or Pathfinder hazing prank.
After having run it as written, I can't really see how it could ever be run the way that I experienced as a player. The differences were minor and subtle in their execution, but by really paying attention to the actions, demeanor and written instructions for these two NPCs, I had my players feeling like they had been picked for something special rather than simply being screwed around with or messed with by Dreng and Gale.
The encounters, even with seven players, gave some measure of challenge. The mystery and clues felt much tighter, made more sense, and flowed from piece to piece more logically in this game than when I was a player.
By the end, a few of the players were excited to pursue Confirmations for their PCs, based on Dreng's glowing recomendations and words in the ear of Kreighton Shane (a nice touch, Thursty). A few more were eagerly seeking out slots in the scenario that Valsin promised their PCs, on our local PFS Warhorn schedule. Seeing them with smiles and noting their excitement after the end definitely made me want to come back here and update my review.
Overall, I still hesitate to give this scenario a full five stars. The main reason for this is that I still feel the scenario is INCREDBILY lore-heavy, especially for what will likely be among a new player's first couple of delves into PFS, this being an 'evergreen' level 1 to level 2 replayable scenario.
That being said, with careful prep and good storytelling, this one can absolutely be a winner and player-favorite. Well done, Thursty!
---- Jan 14, 2015 Review as a player ----
INITIAL RATING: 3 Stars
I was one of the players at Wakedown's table, from his posted review. Overall, I agree with what he wrote. In addition to playing the scenario, the group had a discussion afterward about the scenario itself with Wakedown.
Overall, I thought the story and lore presented in this scenario were extremely detailed. While I am impressed by this, I also feel that for an 'evergreen' scenario, the setting, objectives and details involved are hyper-specific to Season 6. Currently, I feel that much of the story is lost on anyone who isn't extremely well-versed in the current lore and storyline of PFS. In addition, I suspect this scenario will not age well, given how much of it is rooted in advancing Season 6 story, rather than providing a truly evergreen 'first outing/final exam' as in the Confirmation.
I think the only time I would choose to run this scenario over the Confirmation would be if I had a group of veteran players who were interested in getting their characters integrated into the current Season 6 storyline. For a random group, a group of new players or just for players interested in having a social game of PFS, I would absolutely choose the Confirmation instead.
Having covered the story and lore aspects, it is the game play itself that I really feel falls flat. There was nothing that grabbed me. The combat encounters felt forced and disjointed, especially the very last one. Also, while I understand the randomly-generated nature of the encounters has some influence on game balance, my own encounter-experiences in the scenario widely fluctuated from "this is silly and trivial' to 'this is frustrating for a level 1' to 'wow, that is far too strong for a fresh level 1'. Some more attention to the mechanics of the encounters and some balancing would be greatly appreciated.
Overall, I give the author credit for the rich story and lore elements which greatly enhance the CURRENT storyline. I just feel, however, that the wider player-base would be better served by having the effort that was put into the encounter/puzzle detail, reasoning and mechanics match that of the story writing.
