Russell Akred's page

These companions are not impressive at all. The cover is juvenile, interior art is silly, the maps are lack luster, and what's with the half-janni? On the plus side the bestiary has a couple of nice additions to the writer's tool box, new traits, feats, and material which will help players of Pathfinder Society, backgrounds of local beliefs, types of magic schools, a prestige class, a few pages obout Katheer, how races and classes are viewed, the part on genders is confusing from a role playing angle, and their views of cast in society. I wish they would have had more about things like seasons, a bit more statistics on every city, struggles inside Qudira, details like roads between towns on the maps and products for different regions and cities, and how they would feel about other countries in Pathfinder Society.

It is a battle royal through this adventure but as with many others it feels like a rope is tied to the players leg pulling them through the adventure. We felt like an army of hammers fighting a village of nails. At the end you were just left scratching your head wondering if you even came close to completing the mission. What was it again? And who are all these things we killed? What do they have to do with the problem we were sent to figure out. Are we the new "A" team?

Don't worry, if your players show up an hour late, don't worry. If it takes forever to draw the map, don't worry. Some ones girlfriend/wife/best friend/mom calls, don't worry. Unless someone has to be rushed to the hospital you'll have plenty of time. It took me longer to prep this adventure and drive to the store than it to run it. Also at low levels a lot has to be forgiven or else it makes no sense. The box text is wonderful (kept it from getting 1 star) as is the creepy setting but even with struggling with the organization it was over in less than two hours. The combats are challenging for four low level players but don't play up.

When I ran this for a table it seemed pretty rough. Too many story elements didn't make sense and one thing on the map still baffles me. If your players actually try and figure out mysteries don't run this one. Most of my prep time was spent repairing holes and filling gaps. It ran well at the table with players challenged by the settings as much as the monsters.
As I say in many post don't play up in PFS scenarios or you may get a TPK. No matter how easy the first few fights go resist the urge.

Not as good as Shipyard Rats, Cossomir's Locker suffers from not exploiting it's environment. Players and DMs will be expecting so much more from this sequel to The Devil We Know—Part 1. The setting begs for more game play opportunities and the combats felt easy and mundane.

The first thing I'd tell you about PFS games is stay in your level. This holds ever so true for Shipyard Rats. The combats are challenging and in dynamic locations. For the players it is also sprinkled with a few interesting role playing opportunities. I would highly recomend this for beginning players.

The characters are half the fun in this adventure. Making it easy to want to play on. The scenes are in complex and dynamic allowing for some fun happenings. Don't worry too much about the underworld consuming you. It will help you appreciate the light more when you reach topside.
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The premise for Perils of the Pirate Pact is a simple rescue. The real villain will be obvious from the first scene. My character enjoyed tormenting the poor villain hoping to get the final battle over early but the DM stuck to his guns allowing me to taunt the entirety of the game. If you like pirates and ship battles then you have already played this one. If you like harassing the antagonist for a few hours you should play this one. It's priceless for the sadistic part of you.

My first complaint is the foreshadowing. Holy cow it is beating you over the head by the time you are a quarter of the way through. Second complaint is all encounters start the same way no matter how many precautions are taken. Maybe I'm just sore because we chose not to finish it, but the ending seemed a forgone conclusion. Don't go without a well balance group well inside the level tiers (in fact play DOWN). Some of the faction goals are impossible without very powerful resources.

When I first read this scenario I was disappointed. It seemed to be accidently attached to the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. After the first two which had everything hooked together real well this seemed a massacre. Well I dove in and first change was that the order in the book was pretty much screwy, combined some events and took others and muscled them into others as foreshadowing and task list. After a lot of work I ran it and the changes were even better than I hoped which made me wonder if it was not as bad as I once thought it was. The only thing it needed was something to tie it together with the PCs hometown of Sandpoint and I did that with an item named by one of the players "Skull Crossing" so it worked out pretty well. Just wish it would have came out of the shipping container that way is all.

More detail than most players will ask you for and then some. The Nations of the inner sea and the races sections have so much information to set your head spinning. Good background on religion, organizations, and I was blown away when I saw the forty something pages on the world. A must have for anyone gaming in the world of Golarion.

The problem is these are all the maps produced in the adventures. The same size and sometimes several on a page. Make them bigger and they would be much better.

Ever wanted to add that feeling of impending doom, or at least trouble in a game? I gave my players a harrow reading between Burnt Offerings and Skinsaw Murders and it was wonderful. They are actually checking off the predictions as they come true. It took some time to learn the cards and their meaning but after that I felt like a regular carny soothsayer. Can't wait to deliver the next reading. They look nice but more important they become a real ROLE PLAYING prop.