Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-23: Shadow's Last Stand—Part I: At Shadow's Door (PFRPG) PDF (based on
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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 7th level characters (Tiers: 1-2, 3-4 and 6-7).
The Shadow Lodge’s assault on the Pathfinder Society has come to a head in the Andoren city of Almas, where renegade Shadow Pathfinders have taken over the Grand Cathedral of Aroden, holding the Pathfinders and Venture-Captain stationed there hostage. You must gain entry into the overrun Pathfinder lodge and put an end to the open warfare within the Society.
Written by Steven Robert.
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 Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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The map is... Problematic, yet affords a neat change from the typical dungeon crawl. Have run several times, and experienced many variations of success through the tiers. Not nearly as bad as all the other reviews would have you think, yet editing and map make for a challenging scenario for any GM to run.
This scenario was boring, lifeless, and completely devoid of role play. It was like a dungeon crawl without any of the cool stuff you usually find in dungeons. I honestly can't even remember what the main plot was. It was very hard for me to not space out for most of the game and I was not engaged at all. The second part, on the other hand, is definitely worth your time.
Poorly thought-out progression, encounters that make NO sense, a map that's a massive pain to draw, and the whole thing took 90 minutes. What the crap? Garbage.
Alright, Even with all of the problems I am about to list, I had fun with this mod. It has a unique local and storyline. The glass golem was impressively awesome, i'd never actually seen one before. However, It needed SO MUCH improvement.
Map Layout:
AS for the map layout, There was a BIG issue. The setting on the roof of the cathedral isn't mapped out. Allright, fair enough, its a DC 10 check to scale the wall and reach the belfry. There doesn't have to be a map for this part. The DC 10 check, however, seems to be rather pitiful. Yes, i can understand that all characters need to reach the top, but they are scaling what would probably be a sheer wall. It would have been better to say that the tower was under repair, and the characters could climb the scaffolding. Really a DC 10 check would have been more appropriate for speed climbing a ladder. Without any time frame for actually climbing, a Climb check would be rather redundant, as it could be assumed that without any constraints, they will take 20 to climb the walls.
However, there are two other entrances that are noted in the text, but buried deep inside. I wasn't aware of them until I had started mapping the game. Since there is no actual action here beyond "get into the cathedral," this is fine. I can deal with the descriptions, and making them up on my own. However, there is no mention of the extra set of doors in the text specific to the entrance of the cathedral, or if players are able to access them. In fact, how did players get up on the cathedral, anyway? There wasn't a staircase. It really wasn't explained. As a result, we, as DM's are lead to believe that players might be able to access these faults. Doing so in one of my players other games resulted in a 15 minute adventure. The boss was dead, and the captives rescued in 15 minutes. My personal game took just under an hour. Two of the monsters are not marked, so i just had to wing it. Two of the secret passages are not marked, and I had not seen the descriptions where the secret passages were. He tells us that there's trap doors leading to another area of the map, but it is "Beyond the scope of this adventure." Excuse me, but when does someone see a door, particularly D&D players, and NOT open a strange trapdoor? Its sitting there, underneath podium. What am I supposed to tell my players, other than an immersion breaking “yea, sorry about that, the map says that its there. It would have been much better to replace the phrase “this is beyond the scope of this adventure” with “There is much evidence that thousands of bugbears lie beyond these tunnels. Dozens of separate footprints are here. You surely will not survive if you go on further, and it is clear that the big bad boss intends to summon them later.”
Encounters:
There are essentially 4 encounters that my group ran into. The wind elemental, 2 rogues, the main boss, and the Glass golem. Each one had their problems. The rogues were never put on the map, so I couldn't see where they were. Where does one ambush another person in a 5 foot hallway? The glass golem states that it should be on part of the rose window. Allright fine, but what side is it on? The wind elemental's tactics is worded in a fashion that allows misinterpretation. If the cathedral's trap is triggered. The text is worded so that it can be interpreted that it will stay in its hiding spot. Yes, there is its treasure hoard, but all players enter in, what I believe to be the second floor. There's no reason to go lower. No missions are down there. However, the elemental will instead ambush the party as they walk around on the balcony. Though, this in itself presents problems, as players will likely hear the approach of a mass of spinning, twisting air. This would render the elemental's ambush worthless. OF course, this COULD be drowned out by sound, but there is nothing, not even a DC to hear the elemental's approach.
The glass golem itself was an issue. It was weak physically, plus its DR of 5 proved troublesome to the players. There wasn't a caster in the group, so it could have easily turned into a VERY tiring battle. The main boss was done well, though disarmed rather easily thanks to the monk in the party. He hit hard, nearly KO'd a player on his surprise round.
