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A good introduction. Not to be taken too lightly though!

Matthew Hinton — Aug 22, 2011, 08:13 AM

This is overall a good intro module. It introduces players to what it is like to be a pathfinder and with some decent GM knowledge of factions and roleplaying, can really introduce them to a couple of the factions and their leaders.

Everything is really nicely done in the module. I actually ran this through googlehangouts, which worked really well, to get some more players into PFS and they seemed to enjoy playing it.

That being said...:

The final combat is pretty vicious if the opposing party gets a round to prepare all of their buffs etc... The PCs end up facing a nicely balanced, buffed up party, with better equipment and who haven't used up any of their resources yet. My party had no tank really, and thus ended up with 3 unconscious people plus a companion, when they finally killed the sorcerer. This was a bit of bad luck as well (no being able to roll above a 10 doesn't help things) but it still seems mean that the PCs can EASILY die in this encounter.

At least it showed them that life as a pathfinder is in no way easy! It's a dangerous world out there...

Great Roleplaying and tricky combats!

Matthew Hinton — Aug 19, 2011, 08:07 AM

This was probably just my favourite scenario to run at GenCon, such a shame I only ran it once (and ran Shades III 3 times!)
The roleplaying in this is awesome, I love kobolds, nearly as much as I love goblins, so it's nice to see them used well. There is plenty of roleplaying for a party that wants it, and plenty of cool combats if that's what your party needs, so just play it as however your party wants!

Some GM only stuff::

The traps in this are cool, and it's worth looking over the alchemist's combat stats properly before, cause he can do some serious damage to the PCs. Also allow him to run off using retreat (mine crashed through one of the top windows to run away), then the final combat is awesome.
The lightning bolt at the start of the combat is epic, it's also a party killer, since most of them will be along that nice line. Means that the combat will be really tense.
My party also spent loads of money preparing for a dragon! The look on their faces when it's breath didn't to anything to them was priceless!

So really do enjoy this, it's a great one!

Nicely Non-Linear!

Matthew Hinton — Aug 17, 2011, 04:24 PM

Thought I would finally get round to reviewing my GenCon modules.
This was the first module I ran on Thursday morning. Mike sat in himself and ran one of the NPCs, which was great! Left me to keep the stuff flowing and allow that certain NPC to be more responsive etc...

The module is nicely non-linear, different groups will definitely approach this in different ways and it allows them to play to the strengths of the group nicely, which is really good to see in a module.
It has a really nice balance of mean traps and crazy conditions / brutal combats, so don't expect this to be easy!

For Prospective GMs:

Just a couple of tips:
Play up how nice and friendly Po and his Wife are, he should be really interested in the PCs and generally be as jovial and nice as you can roleplay. Another great suggestion for the tea scene is for him to call for a toast "To the Pathfinder Society...", making it more likely for the PCs to drink it (since there will always be some slightly meta PCs)
The final combat with the Aspis after the sonic trap is a BRUTAL, crazy melee, so enjoy!

Oh and Besai is a jerk, make sure he is an equal jerk to all the PCs, so they band together against him.

Hope these help

So overall, very enjoyable mod, which is actually just as fun to more second, third time etc... as the first, which is pretty rare.
Nice one Mike!

Matthew Hinton's page

A good introduction. Not to be taken too lightly though!

Great Roleplaying and tricky combats!

Nicely Non-Linear!