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Pathfinder Adventure Path #58: Island of Empty Eyes (Skull & Shackles 4 of 6) (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #58: Island of Empty Eyes (Skull & Shackles 4 of 6) (PFRPG)
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Chapter 4: "Island of Empty Eyes"
by Neil Spicer

Having won the Free Captains’ Regatta, the adventurers must now claim their prize—the uninhabited Island of Empty Eyes. Yet exploring strange ruins and fighting the isle’s monstrous denizens won’t be enough. Once they’ve got things well in hand, the adventurers must host a feast for the Shackles' infamous Pirate Council, only to have a dangerous situation turn even worse when a mysterious saboteur threatens to disrupt the party. Can the adventurers tame their island and protect their influential guests? Or will they lose the respect of the pirate lords and fade into obscurity?

    This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes:
  • “Island of Empty Eyes,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 9th-level characters, by Neil Spicer.
  • Pirate legends and mysteries of the Shackles, by Jack Graham.
  • Details on the cyclopes who once ruled the Shackles, by Gareth Hanrahan.
  • Island harpies in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin D. Laws.
  • Five new monsters, by Alex Greenshields, Michael Kenway, Mark Moreland, and Tork Shaw.

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.

ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-416-0

Island of Empty Eyes is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (479 KB zip/PDF).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Adventure Path #58: Island of Empty E

5/5 —

Originally posted on www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Product- Pathfinder Adventure Path #58 Island of Empty Eyes
Producer- Paizo
Price- $20
System-Pathfinder
TL;DR- Another well done Pathfinder Adventure 90%

Basics- Shiver me timbers! If you've played the last three Skull and Shackles adventure path adventures, the players have won the Free Captains Regatta, and also won a chance to become Free Captains themselves. To do this they must clear the Island of Empty Eyes and prepare a feast for the visiting Free Captains who will judge the players on how well they have prepared. This sounds easy, but it never is.... This book also contains a section describing the Cyclopes, popular rumors of the Shackles, and the fourth part of the story continuing across all the Skull and Shackle Adventures.

Crunch or Mechanics- This adventure had some interesting mechanics associated with it. There players get to freely explore an island and decide what they will do with anyone they meet there. Overall I liked it, but some things were somewhat problematic like super high DC. My party doesn't min/max much, so the higher, single DC tend to cause them to fail. 4.5/5

Fluff or Story- This is a pretty free form story for the main adventure. If your party needs to be a bit more on the rails, then they will falter when given some freedom. The story is well done, as are the Cyclopes section and the rumors. Well done. 4.5/5

Execution- Don't have to say much here. Paizo is awesome at what it does, so they earn their score. Good art, reader friendly, but I could have used a few more section breaks or a better indicated area on how to fix up the island instead of having it buried in the middle of a paragraph. 4.5/5

Summary- I enjoyed running this for my players, and my players had a ball too. It's not ship heavy, but it's a nice break in the standard pattern. You will have to read your players to find out if they need a little helping had to keep on track on the island. But overall, it's a well done adventure! 90%

The Greatest Dangers Are the Ones You Don't See: Island of Empty Eyes!

5/5 —

This is a rip roaring good yarn, with lots of exploration, exploitation, violence, and diplomacy all thrown together. If you enjoy "building" in Pathfinder, this one is for you. Check out my full review: Island of Empty Eyes

Great for any Nautical Campaign

5/5 —

Island of Empty Eyes is the strongest book in Skull & Shackles for my group. While the entire adventure path is a good mix of sandbox freedom and rail-worthy quests, this was a perfect compromise. The best part is this adventure, more than the others, would be a great addition to ANY pirate or nautical based campaign.

Simply, if you want a full island stocked with not only interesting locales, monsters, and NPCs, plus ruins to explore and a fort to make their own, this adventure is for you. The best part is the adventure requires smart-thinking players and tough characters that are looking for a good challenge in combat, traps, negotiation, skills and exploration.

It’s one of the AP books that feels much bigger than its page size would dictate. Explore an island, conquer a fort, quest in ancient ruins, raid an undersea vault, and prepare and host a gathering of fellow sea captains are just some of the challenges. Again, highly recommended: either as part of the AP or for anyone running a nautical campaign.

Excellent Adventure for my campaign

5/5 —

I may be biased in my review due to a major plot item interacting perfectly with my particular campaign and characters, but nonetheless I feel the need to give the AP 5 stars.

The premise is the only somewhat shaky leg of the AP, and the players are kind of like "we have to prove ourselves AGAIN?!" That sentiment is quickly discarded however as the adventure gets underway. Meanwhile the addition of cyclopes as a major element is welcome; it is nice to see classical fantasy elements included in an AP, and their inclusion on the cover and back indicate that they are a major part of the AP.

The tragic NPC and his/her dilemma sets my PC's up perfectly and the ultimate plot payoff can differ somewhat from the AP in my campaign depending upon what the affected PC decides to do with the clues given. The maps included are detailed and I would like a flip mat of the ultimate ruins included in the AP. I was going to enlarge the map to 1":5' scale and print it in tiles on the printer but it ended up being over 120 pages!!! Using that much printer paper and spending that much time taping the sheets together would be cost/time prohibitive. Not to mention the file becomes cumbersome when enlarged to 90x126. Would the market be large enough to support a flip mat? I am not so sure. A printed paper map poster possibly. $9.99??

I like this AP and liked how it flowed coherently from start to finish. Tempest Rising, while excellently written and intriguing was jumbled up somewhat, not gaining its sea-legs until act 3. Isle of empty eyes flows smoothly from start to finish and very little GM work is required to make this AP fun and exciting.

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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Announced! Cover image is a mockup.

Oh dear, the plot summary for this one will be worth the rest of the AP alone for me..
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

That "Paizo Staff" must be a really nice guy/gal, gets to write many books. :)
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I hope this one has some good RPing moments in this one. I like parties and such in games. :)
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

I'm curious about all these "musts."

Books 1 & 2 seemed to flow pretty naturally as things the PCs would want to do as soon as they are given the oppurtunity. (And books 5 & 6 put the PCs in more of a reactive/defensive position, and that always works out just fine as a plothook.)

However the last book and especially this book seem keen on telling the PCs "you must do this now." It's giving me flashbacks of LoF#3. It's especially odd if the PCs are just simply free-wheeling pirates that can do whatever pleases them.

I'm sure the Paizo team will come up with something awesome, I'm more just musing aloud at this point.
Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Please let one of the exotic island monsters be tofu-headed. That would be zesty.

Awesome, we get our own island, well once we "clean" the place up a bit.
Contributor

Updated product information: this AP volume is written by Neil Spicer.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Hey! I know that guy! ;-)

Me too! I look forward to sending my group through this Neil.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut
GM Lilith wrote:
Me too! I look forward to sending my group through this Neil.

Blame Rob and James if anyone dies. ;-)

Neil Spicer wrote:
GM Lilith wrote:
Me too! I look forward to sending my group through this Neil.
Blame Rob and James if anyone dies. ;-)

I'll be sure to pass the buck appropriately.

Why will this volume have a section on the cyclops? We're already getting details on them in Giants Revisited and on their ancient empire in Lost Kingdoms.
Sovereign Court
Generic Villain wrote:
Why will this volume have a section on the cyclops? We're already getting details on them in Giants Revisited and on their ancient empire in Lost Kingdoms.

This volume will have an Ecology of the Cyclops article.

How that article will be different from the cyclops section in Giants Revisited ?
Paizo Employee Director of Game Development
Generic Villain wrote:
Why will this volume have a section on the cyclops? We're already getting details on them in Giants Revisited and on their ancient empire in Lost Kingdoms.

We included an article on the cyclops in the Adventure Path because we can't assume a GM will buy the Giants Revisited or Lost Kingdoms books, and wanted to have information on the cyclopes in this volume. There are some differences between the articles, however. The article about cyclopes in this volume of the adventure path deals with cyclops in the Shackles region more directly than the others. I realize it may seem like a bit of overlap or redundancy to the people who buy and read everything, but we were thinking about the folks who are buying just the APs. (And we love the folks who buy and read everything!)

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Adam Daigle wrote:
Generic Villain wrote:
Why will this volume have a section on the cyclops? We're already getting details on them in Giants Revisited and on their ancient empire in Lost Kingdoms.
We included an article on the cyclops in the Adventure Path because we can't assume a GM will buy the Giants Revisited or Lost Kingdoms books, and wanted to have information on the cyclopes in this volume. There are some differences between the articles, however. The article about cyclopes in this volume of the adventure path deals with cyclops in the Shackles region more directly than the others. I realize it may seem like a bit of overlap or redundancy to the people who buy and read everything, but we were thinking about the folks who are buying just the APs. (And we love the folks who buy and read everything!)

But what about the cyclops on Iblydos? ;)

[offtune]How much is that cyclops on Iblydos?
How much do you think he would be?[/offtune]

Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Paizo Employee Director of Game Development
Justin Franklin wrote:
But what about the cyclops on Iblydos? ;)

I lack the powers of foresight the cyclopes had, so I'm unsure.

But, that's precisely the kinda thing that won't be in the cyclops article in the Skull and Shackles AP.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

Three cheers for the cyclopes of Ghol-Gan, baby!
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4
Neil Spicer wrote:
cyclopes

What an oddly spelled word. ;-)

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

Why do you think so? It's the plural form of cyclops. And trust me, as the author of this adventure, there was a lot of focus on making sure I knew when to use the "e" and when to leave it out. If you look further upthread, you'll see Adam uses it correctly, as well. So, it's not oddly spelled. It's correctly spelled. ;-)

Just because it's the correct spelling, doesn't mean it can't look odd. ;)
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4
Neil Spicer wrote:
Why do you think so?

Oh, I was just reminiscing. ;-)

Sovereign Court Contributor
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Neil Spicer wrote:
Three cheers for the cyclopes of Ghol-Gan, baby!

Indeed.

Lost Kingdoms will have more on Ghol-Gan for those of you wanting to expand on the material in this book and the Islands of the Shackles, but concentrates on what they used to be and what they left behind, rather than on the present populations. There have been cultural changes over the thousands upon thousands of years since their day, after all.

Cyclopes, anyway, is a Greek plural, like:

Octopus - Octopodes

Iris - of the eye or a rainbow - Irides

Phalanx - Phalanges.

But in English we tend to make words ending in -s or -x pluralize as -ses.
Rob McCreary wrote:
This volume will have an Ecology of the Cyclops article.

Yay, finally something I'm looking forward to!

Ruyan.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I've updated the cover image and product description to match the finished product.

5 new monsters, info on Cyclopes, Island Harpies, and pirates myths and legends.

This one sounds great for both the extra information on the cyclopes (which should go well with my still-hoped-for eventual Kingmaker campaign, what with their ancient cyclopes kingdoms) and on the whole 'claim the island' aspect. Yo-ho for the Pirate King (or Queen)!

Would the exploration/building of the island follow Kingmaker rule set?
Liberty's Edge

Hosting a feast for the pirate lords...I'm now hoping for a Comedy of Manners scene.

You billed me on the 5th...e-mailed that it shipped on the 10th...still no tracking information available...I check many times a day!

Is everyone at the Con? And yes I did post on the customer service boards...still waiting for a response of any kind.

Please do not use the "ha ha ha got surprised by a perfect storm" line that I've heard two times already.

I have rabid gamers perched like vultures waiting for our Friday game.

Hello?...Anyone?...Beuller?
Paizo Employee Director of Sales
selunatic2397 wrote:

You billed me on the 5th...e-mailed that it shipped on the 10th...still no tracking information available...I check many times a day!

Is everyone at the Con? And yes I did post on the customer service boards...still waiting for a response of any kind.

Please do not use the "ha ha ha got surprised by a perfect storm" line that I've heard two times already.

I have rabid gamers perched like vultures waiting for our Friday game.

Hello?...Anyone?...Beuller?

I've replied to your previous post.

Thanks,
cos
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

I've removed a post. This thread is not the correct place to handle Customer Service issues, especially ones that have been addressed elsewhere. Posting in multiple simultaneous threads will not result in faster and/or better service.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I have to say, I really think the illustration on page 4 is the single best rendition I've seen of Merisiel to date. Between her attitude and the shape of her head, she actually looks like an attractive elf instead of a creepy Grey™ alien. I would definitely prefer to see more of this artistic style (as opposed to how she looks in the CRB's Rogue entry) going forward.

That's Craig J Spearing, that. (And my current wallpaper.)
Shadow Lodge

what is the bestiary like for this one?

spoiler:
Crocodillians(Deinosuchus, Marine Crocodile, Saltwater Crocodile)
Kapre(CN humaniod shape Plant creature with a cigar)
Tetrolimulus(Magical Beast that combines traits from crab, mantis, and scorpion)
Were Crocodile
Shadow Lodge

0.o they finally gave me the were croc?! Awesome also little sad that the croc one took this long to get out just did the encounter with crocs like a month ago.

I am still waiting for were foxes(and ravens, panthers, etc.).

It would be nice to see some good aligned Lyconthropes other then the were bear.

I love Lycanthropes, I just wish the editorial staff would catch the fact that the hybrid form of the werecroc was completely and utterly wrong. It should be large not medium, its str 4 higher, con 3 higher, and its wis 4 higher according to the lycanthrope template... of coarse I could be totally wrong, but I don't think so. The sad part, is that this is about the third time in a product that they have made the same mistakes. No offense guys, but could you fix this oversight in future products?
Liberty's Edge

encounter info:
I used Fargo Vitterande as a template for an encounter I had in a home-brew game, this week. It was really fun! It happend on the road instead of on a ship. Fargo's analog was a half-elven female who the party trusted, but had been hired to "try" to kill them. Her approach was mostly Fargo's. She isolated the healer by luring him across a river that had access via a fallen log. She then blew up the log using the wand of lightning bolts and began attacking the party. Sadly, I botched the encounter by forgetting about damage resistance entirely, but the result would simply have been delayed. Our combat monster tore her apart and once the healer returned, much healing was dispensed... It did make a nice spells-per-day sink before the more powerful duo of assassins (based on the Black Sisters from Kingmaker) attacked, that night, though!
RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor

ajs:

Spoiler:
I find it intriguing that my character designs make for such useful assassins. Throw the Night Harrows at them from the Rival Guide next time and see how they fare. ;-)
Liberty's Edge

Reviewed, after finally getting to run this chapter in the AP. The final section should play out in tonight's game. I thought with all the discussion around the Razor Coast and Freeport Kickstarters and nautical games in general, the usefulness of this installment as a stand-alone product could not be ignored. My players loved it.
RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor

Thanks for the review, Jeff. High praise. Rock on, ya bloody pirate! ;-)
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