Pathfinder Society Scenario #5: Mists of Mwangi (OGL/PFRPG) PDF (based on
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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 4–5).
Pathfinder Lugizar Trantos recently returned from the Mwangi Expanse with haunted eyes and a pack full of strange idols. Absalom's famed Blakros Museum purchased his pieces and Lugizar vanished. The strange monkey idols he pulled from the misty jungles of Mwangi carry with them a fell curse, and now their power has laid claim to the museum. Can the Pathfinder Society uncover the source of the curse in time, or will the Blackros Museum be forever lost to the mists of Mwangi?
Written by Nicolas Logue
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
Note: This scenario has been updated for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Purchasers have access to both 3.5 and Pathfinder RPG editions, but as of January 10, 2011, only the Pathfinder RPG edition is legal for Pathfinder Society organized play.
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My players said they liked it, even tho they all died. THe final boss in T4-5 is a beast. If they aren't prepared or use poor tactics, he will kill a player outright.
Okay, this has a straightforward story, lots of opportunities for roleplay and a clear chance for the PCs to be heroes for the Pathfinder Order. Tier 1-2's final boss encounter was anticlimactic, though, possibly due to the other horrific encounters found in the museum proper. Although it can be run both 1-2 and 4-5, this is one of those cases where the upper tier lends for better play. A bit of a rewrite for the lower tier and this would easily be a 5-star adventure!
A classic scenario that started a run of later Blakros Museum scenarios. Mists is basically a dungeon crawl, but it makes up for the dearth of non-combat encounters with strong ambience.
Challenge (3/5):
Even the 3.5 version of this scenario had some legitimate challenges, and with the conversion, Subtier 4-5 now has the best challenge of any Season 0 I've seen (Subtier 1-2 looks like it would be a cakewalk now, though, so if you're running this for a home group, consider just using the 3.5 version if you're running Subtier 1-2). It isn't overpowering, but there's a few things that can go very wrong for a party.
A group that is high on Cha and Int casters can be screwed by the mists, which completely incapacitate all spellcasting for those characters. Somehow every time I've played or GMed this one, there's been a sorcerer around who failed his save and got monkeyfied. Fortunately, the module has a clever built-in mechanism for modulating the challenge--if the party starts losing and someone gets KOed, you learn that KOing ends the monkey effect, whereas a curb-stomping party may never learn this depending on how they dealwith the ape scholars. The only trouble, of course, is if the team all dies on the encounter with the first KO. However, you do need to be able to heal off that fight. When I first ran this, it was with a party who were all completely new characters and had no CLW wands. This can be rough in any scenario, so remind the group that they can pay for heals at a temple if necessary.
The other potential trouble can be the vargouilles. When I played this with my monk, he was the only one who made all four Will saves at the higher tier. If he had failed and the vargouilles were played smartly (knock out, then kiss, then wait), we would have had a TPK and several new vargouilles. In general, multiple save or disables coming at once can be pretty tough. Granted, I haven't yet seen this one actually take out the whole party, but do watch out. In general the mod has plenty of save or sucks, but this is the only case where there are so many that have such a dangerous condition.
If you can somehow avoid the ridiculously easy PFRPG version of the 1-2 subtier, consider the rating increased up to 4.
Interesting Encounters (4/5):
The encounters added to the flavor and theme of the demon-mist-haunted museum, with a good variety of opponents, each themed to one of the museum's exhibits. Several examples include vargouilles masquerading as masks, the taxidermic monsters in the same room that don't come to life (yet), and a ziggurat with a giant gorilla surrounded by monkeys and evil monkey idols hiding in the brush.
Roleplaying Opportunities (2.5/5):
This scenario is basically a dungeon crawl. There is one opportunity to talk to a besieged scholar which is essentially the only RP encounter you get unless you count the Venture Captain or Nigel Aldain, who you save at the very end. However, the RP potential of the mist itself boosts this one up to 2.5. Be careful, however, as the mists are clearly portrayed as a negative effect, so you need players who will ham it up despite this fact, as opposed to the sorts of players who don't like to dwell on failures or setbacks.
Golarion Flavor/Continuity (4/5):
You get surprisingly-much in this category considering it's just a dungeon crawl in Absalom. While not directly relevant to this particular adventure, the lore on the Blakros Museum itself was rich and evocative enough to spawn several more adventures each off of unanswered questions piqued by the scenario's background text. You also get Anghazan and Mwangi themes. Finally, having Adril Hestram as the VC is useful to build up to the retirement arc. This is a scenario in which the PFS would logically be involved, and the adventure flows together well with no logical inconsistencies except perhaps how the giant crocodile fit itself up there.
Awesome Factor (4/5):
This category exists for things that just make the characters call out "That's awesome!" On the other side, it includes things that make them groan, but I've named the category after the positive side of the aspect. The flavor oozing out of this scenario is what makes it awesome, as expected for a Nic Logue adventure. This scenario is able to creep people out, and it's inspired at least one player to have his character quail in dread whenever the museum is mentioned again (after which he'll always explain that the negative reaction is in character only with "I am loving it"). The mists and their effects are also awesome, but with a warning of a potential for anti-awesome if you have an Int or Cha caster whose player cares more about effectiveness than the flavor.
Overall Analysis (4/5): I don't judge often in extremes. A scenario will truly have to be something to get a 1/5 or a 5/5 from me in any category. I know some reviewers tend to rate high, where a 3/5 would be a product they didn't like. For me, Mist of Mwangi's low 4/5 (it had an average of 3.5) means that the scenario is very good. This places it at just about "Paizo average" quality for me, but only because Paizo's quality tends to be high, so I expect a high median quality from them. Try to run Subtier 4-5 for a better challenge. Also, there's a file to make a 3d map of the museum on the forums. I did so, and it's awesome, but it's way harder to do than the thread makes it sound (unless you're way better at building things than me, I guess).
I played this module at the 1-2 subtier. This module has (or had?) a good rep, but I didn't particularly like or dislike it.
Spoiler:
I really liked the potential of the first encounter. Unfortunately my party all made their saves. I also liked the two encounters in the smaller exhibit rooms (one with a variety of undead, another is a fake out). The scenario mission and faction missions do a good job of making sure the party explores the whole museum, even though they could walk straight to the BBEG. The atmosphere of the museum can be played up to make this a pretty decent spooky-suspense style module. My biggest complaint with this module is that at 1-2, it was a cakewalk for my party. I don't think they felt threatened even once. The final encounter was particularly anticlimatic (they finished it it two rounds with ease). The consensus seems to be that this is a really fast scenario, but my players took 5 hours to finish.