To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in this scenario. It took about 1.5 hours for the party to fly through it. We played 4 people at tier 3-4, and the party's APL was 4. The cleric was able to handle the normal undead, and the raging barbarian who crit'ed & cleaved completely wiped out the final encounter on his turn. The idea of going into a large theatre (not the normal one from the later season's map collection) and dealing with all of the posh folks was cool. Once the combat switch was flicked, it was basically a slaughter fest (besides Magistrar).
As luck would have it, the party took the most direct route to the basement, and must have left 5 or 6 areas unexplored. The majority of the faction missions were handled at the same time, which made the need for exploring nonexistent. I did enjoy the tougher bugbear zombies, as they put a big hurting on a character a few times. Still, most of it was a walk in the park for the players.
If you have 2ish hours to kill and want to play PFS, this scenario is for you!
I enjoyed playing and GMing this scenario. After entering the weave, there are a series of battles & puzzles to solve. The Ancient Osiriani puzzle is now my favorite from all the PFS games I have played. Combats were difficult, but not impossible, and it was nice to have alternate solutions to some of them. Although this takes place in more of a jungle/swampy environment, it still reminds me of ancient Egypt.
There were a few things that left me hungry for more story. We actually never see how the you-know-whos got into the weave. Both times I ran this, the party wanted to track it down, and it wasn't part of either part 1 or 2. Also, the relic doesn't get used in any way. It seems like a nebulous 'relic', used to get the Pathfinders to do stuff.
Continuing where WotW part 1 left off, we travel to the Muckmouth village. It was neat seeing the cave, but there could be more interactions between the tribe and the characters. For the most part, they just watched what was going on. Being indifferent is boring. Maybe a hero Muckmouthian wants to help the PCs with their mission. I'd like more backstory for them.
Also, the combats seemed to blend together. After the initial encounter, baddies fled to where more baddies were, and that was next to more baddies who showed up. The 2 brothers were pretty lame. I would expect them to be much harder, or maybe a water elemental shows up.
The rainbow room was a neat concept, but didn't slow down high level PCs. After defeating the 'boss', players (and me) were confused on why there was another encounter. It reminded me of the movie Artificial Intelligence, when the movie ended, but then it went on and ended again. I thought it was completely unnecessary after the PCs saved they day. Perhaps if it were done earlier (another dig room?), it would mean something.
Finally, like a few other multi-scenario boons, this was lame and only useful under a very strict situation that will (most likely) never happen.
I would give this a 2.5 stars if there was an option. I ran this a few times at small conventions, and I have to say, there were some really cool things (the final 2 battle), and really lame things, in this scenario. Being the PFSpecial, when this gets run, it will be a big deal, and should get as much focus as it can. However, there is no way this scenario can run in the allotted time slot. Both times, I ran this, it went way over. It seems too much was added to this to make it fit in a standard time slot.
At times, coordination between the overseer GM & table GMs (me and probably others) didn't go smoothly, as there is a part that is confusing on when the overseer takes over.
The sewers were cool, the bar brawl was neat (unless you were a player who died in it). The guardian was fun, and players were very creative in the solution.
At one point, a player made a comment about the stuff that their table doing meaning anything, which seemed like a bit of a downer. The final roll seemed a bit silly to me.
I ran the Ghenett Manor Gauntlet as a home game for 6 players. Most of the players have not played a 5-9 before, and the average party level was right between 5-6 and 8-9. They decided to play it safe and play 5-6, which was the right choice.
The biggest thing I was excited about was finally breaking out my Easel Pad with 1 inch squares. I spent an hour trying to make things pretty, but enough about me. The full map is just too big to do, but the manor was doable, being 2 sheets.
The players seemed to have a harder time with the beginning baddies once they got in to the manor than the end. I do think I screwed up the room where they find the [spoiler] thing. One thing that annoys me is that the humanoid baddies seem to be underpowered.
I just ran this a few times for some local groups, and everyone found it very enjoyable. The map is setup in a way where there is a logical break between gaming sessions. As it was a crypt, most people guessed correctly about what they would be seeing inside, but that didn't take any of the fun away. From slaying baddies to dealing with traps, the players had fun.
The only reason why this wasn't a 5 star is there were a few effects that weren't easily fixable, especially since the party was made of level 1 PCs. Also, I'm sick of swarms. They only slow things down.
this was really fun. even though it took a little longer to get through than i expected, it was well worth it. the traps were pretty scary, and i thought there would be a tpk a few times.
the story was really fun. lots of RP opportunities.
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