Red Harvest is simply the best scenario in Season 3 thus far. Based off of Kurosawa's classic film Yojimbo, the PCs are presented with two opposing factions, and need to make choices regarding which side to back in order to succeed at their mission.
It's that "make choices" part that makes this scenario so great. Where nearly every other PFS scenario is a no-decisions railroad, this one is a sandbox, where the PCs' choices govern how the story plays out. Even better, this module has mechanisms which prevent the party from refusing to choose. The players can't take the easy way out and remove themselves from the scenario's conflict; they have to get involved. It's that choice mechanism which really places this scenario head-and-shoulders above the rest of Season 3's offerings.
This is the campaign's second module from Alex Greenshields, the first being both Season 2's best-written and most-infamous scenario, The Dalsine Affair. That one was my favorite from both sides of the GM screen, and I anticipate that this one will be my Season 3 favorite once I GM this one! Paizo's got a talented author on its hands, and I hope to see more from Greenshields in the future.
A couple of tips for GMs of this module:
-Don't off-the-cuff this one. The final fight has a lot of modifiers and buff spells being thrown around.
-In fact, I'd suggest making some index cards of the final fight's statblocks, to keep yourself organized.
Simply put, this module has way too many combats, and that's all it consists of. It gets a second star for a neat mechanic at the very end, as well as for not pretending to be anything but a slugfest.
That being said, this module is another example of what's wrong with Pathfinder Society.
Just returned from playing this one at Tier 4-5. This module, full of potential for character-focused and canon-referencing conflict, quickly devolves into yet another module with way too many combats.
Just how many combats:
Six:
-Archers at the farm.
-Beastmen at the logging village.
-Druid w/ crocodile. I could see this one being talked through... unless you have Shadow Lodge people. *sigh*
-Trixy fey.
-More trixy fey. Is this really necessary?
-Druids.
Wow, that's at least three too many combats.
Slugfest modules like these were what drove me away from PFS in Season 0 (specifically, the horrid #7 Among the Living), and I really hope PFS isn't returning to that horrid model. The combats were all pushovers, where the party rolls initiative, kills everything really quickly, then taps their Cure Light Wands a couple of times and moves on to the next fight.
There was a lot of potential for an engaging conflict between two sides who were both in the wrong here, and the opportunity was wasted by yet another slugfest.
This module represents exactly what's wrong with PFS modules. Avoid as-written, but enjoy with a GM who is able and willing to develop the conflict presented and harness its potential.
A potentially-epic romp through Absalom, ruined by having the execution consist of:
Spoiler:
Yes, goblins. Wave after wave after wave of identical goblins.
There are mechanics in place for the tables to work with each other to achieve a goal, but the execution both falls flat and does not cover important situations, situations I had to make up as my local group went along. For example, when all the tables are on the same map, bardic performance clearly affects everyone on the map; this is not covered my the module. Similarly, when all the PCs are fighting the end-guy in the same room... how does Channel Energy work? This, combined with the entirely-silly point in the spoiler text, made this special event a horrid work that I am sorry to have chosen for my local PFS group to play.
This module had a very nice premise which could potentially lead to a lot of nuanced interaction encounters with NPCs, due to NPCs with intriguing motivations.
However, it has too many combats in it to fully realize the potential for not just good roleplaying, but in-character decision-making. The rails have to be followed just to get through all the combats.
Modules with plots like these really need to have three or fewer combats, maximum of two required combats, and one either bypassable or a trap, to really work.
If only I got to play this in an eight-hour timeframe, or some combats were skipped in favor of more plot-time, such that the party could do anything but stay on the rails, I would have enjoyed this module a lot more.
That being said, I do hope that PFS releases more modules with interesting, choice-driven plotlines, and this module is a step in the right direction.
Just got home from having played The Dalsine Affair at Tier 6-7, and MAN was it an excellent module. It's got in-depth background that the players can care about, encounters with flavor and which can be tackled in more ways than straight combat, and the best climactic encounter of all of PFS so far.
I really do hope that Season 3's modules rise to the quality level introduced by The Dalsine Affair; this one is an example to be followed.
In short, this module's combats are way too difficult at Tier 1-2. The ACs are just too high for new players' PCs to touch, and two of the combats feature simply-overpowered foes.
It's really a failure of the Pathfinder itself, though, because of the rules for humanoids with class levels, and how their CR is lowered by one. A Fighter1 with masterwork equipment, 10+Con hit points, 20 points for stats, and a favored class +1 HP, is *not* the same challenge level as a Human Zombie, even though they're both CR 1/2.
But that failure of the system does not excuse the module at all. The author, who was at the time the campaign coordinator, did not have to place such overpowered combats into Tier 1-2. But he did.
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