Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-18: The God's Market Gamble (PFRPG) PDF (based on
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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.
Valuable relics of religious natures have been disappearing on their way into Absalom and the Pathfinder Society stands to lose countless irreplaceable artifacts if the cause isn't found. Amid the bustling markets of the God's Market in the shadow of the Starstone Cathedral, the Society sets a plan in motion to ensure the parties responsible for the recent thefts are caught and brought to justice.
Written by Dennis Baker.
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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This is easily one of my favorite scenarios. The party gets an opportunity to flex their investigative muscles in a way that actually matters. I've heard a lot of people say that this scenario is very, very deadly, but I don't see it. I've ran it 3 times, and in no case did the party have a great deal of difficulty with the combat. I did have a party nearly lose on the investigative side, though. Be prepared to depart from the rails briefly if the party chooses to run in a different direction than the story goes.
This is not a scenario to enter into lightly. It requires a thorough reading, and then another two and looking up several rules. The basic premise is sound, the means are entertaining and I especially liked the villain as portrayed in the script. It was almost too much for the PCs yet they performed admirably, mostly due to using the cover and buildings to disguise their movements. All around a solid run, but not one to run with short notice.
I did not like this module. It was frustrating in numerous places, and felt mainly like the author designed set-pieces first, and railroaded the PCs into them.
The final combat felt abusive, and wasn't any fun. In fact, all the fun we had came from role-playing (we're a regular group), and was pretty quickly dispersed by the actual module.
Market is an investigation scenario with a few unique strategy and roleplaying elements.
The initial investigation acts are average, however the subsequent acts of hunting down the poacher makes up for it.
**SPOILERS** The main thing I didn't like were certain story elements:
I thought parts of the investigation were contrived, although it wasn't bad enough to ruin the scenario.
For example, if you're an assassin, why would you use unique arrows that can be traced back to you, unless you WANT the crime to be traced back to you? You might as well leave a business card.
Part of the plot revolved around the boss dropping arrows. I can see her dropping an arrow at a single crime scene, but from what I can remember it happened more than once. It seems unlikely.
And if you're blackmailing someone, why not use a disguise (or even better a Hat of Disguise)?
Some GMs say you should be able to use the spell Locate Object to track the keg/arrow and find the boss. Unfortunately, the spell doesn't work that way and is extremely limited. With a scroll, the range is a 540' and you have only 3 minutes to find it. You'd basically have to be in the same location already for it to work.
My group thought the warehouse scene was the weakest act. It took at least 40+ minutes (going round by round and needing checks every round from each PC) and my group found it uneventful.
Warning: There's a chase scene. Chase scenes get a bad rap, but for my group this was actually the best part of the scenario. That's because the GM ran each stage as a mini-roleplaying event, and it ended up being quite funny for us. It's unfortunate that a lot of GMs remove this encounter and that more GMs haven't learned to run chase scenes so that they're actually fun.
The final act has a well designed NPC (finally!), so most players will enjoy the challenge.
Overall: Once you get through the initial acts, Market is a fun little investigation scenario. (7/10)
Exciting. Dangerous. Sneaky. Those are words that can describe this wonderful scenario. This has a lot of everything in it. The BBEG is pretty tough, and for each of the 3 times I have ran it, the players were able to win, but just barely. They also used completely different tactics. The ambush is fun to run, and wishes there are smarter NPCs in other scenarios.
The other encounters here are not typical. A few different thing happen, which some PCs are completely unable to prepare for. The warehouse is cool. The interviews with NPCs are fun, and lead to great RP opportunities. The BBEG can be deadly.
