A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 3-7.
When the Pathfinder Society claimed the Hao Jin Tapestry in Tian Xia, it seemed as though the Aspis Consortium's influence there had ended. An anonymous informant recently identified an Aspis resurgence in Goka's Deepmarket, and Venture-Captain Amara Li hopes that a small, well-trained team can ferret out the villains and prevent any greater atrocities. Can the PCs traverse the Deepmarket's treacherous politics and tunnels and neutralize the Consortium's local ringleader?
Content in "The Deepmarket Deception" also contributes directly to the ongoing storyline of the retired Lantern Lodge faction. Content in this scenario also ties into a special metaplot element from Pathfinder Society Special #6–98: "Serpents Rise". Players who have completed that special event are encouraged to bring its Chronicle Sheet when playing this adventure.
Written by Nathan King.
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Nice exotic location. Some interesting NPCs to interact with. A couple of quite challenging fights. Nice boon.
It gets tarnished a bit by the contrived enemy lair, which is basically just a dungeon where you go to kill everyone. The monsters can hear you fighting, but for wafer-thin reasons don't all bunch up. This strained plausibility.
Story-wise, meh. It felt a bit like a filler installment in the "follow up on the NPCs from Serpents Rise" series. Although it does peel back the curtain on the Aspis aggression story a bit, giving some insight into their internal workings.
All in all it was a fine enough scenario, just didn't amaze me.
I ran this scenario last night for a party of four and had a great time. The expectations I had of this scenario when I picked it, were easily met and satisfied. This scenario delivers on multiple fronts.
Initially I was drawn to the variety and uniqueness of the encounters. During the course of this adventure you're going to run into some foes that you likely have never faced before, at least not in a PFS setting. These foes stand out in a plethora of ways. Not only do they look the part, but they also have interesting abilities and tactics. They can (and likely will) give you run a for your money, so be sure to not underestimate them. They can pack quite a serious punch, both directly and indirectly.
Equally interesting was the setting of the scenario. Like others mentioned in the reviews below, this scenario does a great job at providing the players with a shady, black market. The descriptions of the scenery are concise yet adequate, but it's really the NPCs that create a tangible immersion. They really add a lot of flavor and make the place feel more alive and tangible. It makes the investigation portion of the scenario fun to role-play out.
In the end The Deepmarket Deception is fun and challenging scenario. It offers unique encounters in a very flavorful locale. I would definitely recommend this scenario to others and I'm already looking forward to running it again.
I have had the opportunity to both play and run this scenario and it was excellent. It has skills and fights, and in true Nathan King fashion, he has a twist that will have you shaking your head.
Good to see the Lantern Lodge getting some attention. It's a shame this is a 3-7 and not something higher. 3 years on, I doubt there are many former Lantern Lodge characters that can play it. I'm sure there are a few still in that range, though. I look forward to seeing what Amara Li's been up to.
I'll probably be running this at our next session on the 31st. What map packs/flip mats are used in this scenario? (I want to be able to order them if I do not already own them and if I wait to the 27th to order it will probably be too late.)
I'll probably be running this at our next session on the 31st. What map packs/flip mats are used in this scenario? (I want to be able to order them if I do not already own them and if I wait to the 27th to order it will probably be too late.)
Maps:
There's a full-page custom map. The adventure also makes use of Map Pack: Cave Tunnels, and in the unlikely event that combat occurs early in the adventure, it's recommended that the GM use Flip-Mat: Slum Quarter
To back off my earlier message slightly, higher level former Lantern Lodge characters did get Of Kirin and Kraken, which was great. I got to play it as my capstone scenario for my ninja. I'm excited to be revisiting the LL at any tier. It sounds like a fun one.
John, you mentioned in your recent Paizo blog post "Back to Cherished Haunts" that there is a special metaplot for former members of LL. Will this apply to anyone who has a character that used to be LL regardless of level or does it only apply to former LL characters within that level range? As others have mentioned, the likelihood of former members to still be in the level 3-7 are extremely slim.
Is this still scheduled to go live today? It was listed with an availability of "Wednesday" as recently as yesterday but now it says unavailable. Probably just an artifact of today's being Wednesday but I thought I'd check. I'm running this at a con and with my glacially slow prep the sooner I get it the better.
Is this still scheduled to go live today? It was listed with an availability of "Wednesday" as recently as yesterday but now it says unavailable. Probably just an artifact of today's being Wednesday but I thought I'd check. I'm running this at a con and with my glacially slow prep the sooner I get it the better.
My guess the official response to your question is "soon." It will be released "soon." :) Im running this on Sunday so I hope its up sooner than later.
What is up with the higher difficulty in the season 7 scenarios? Are the authors trying to kill off characters instead of creating fun scenarios? The investigation part of this was okay, but the combats were just brutal. I don't think almost dying every fight and having other party members unconscious makes for a fun gaming experience.