A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-5.
When members of the Shoanti Axe Clan saw fire shooting up into the sky over Varisia's Caliphak Mountains, they rushed to investigate. They found a pair of doors inscribed with runes from ancient Thassilon, along with clear signs that the doors had recently been opened. In recognition of the Axe Clan's expanding alliances, the Shoanti offered both the Society and a priest of Soralyon from Riddleport the opportunity to explore the ruin and neutralize its dangers. Now that the priest has vanished within the complex, the PCs must uncover the ruin's history before the Shoanti lose faith in them and take matters into their own hands.
Great little dungeon crawl. Fun, goofy, but not out-of-place in Golarion. The fights are challenging without resorting to cheap tactics and the story is great. The only downside is that unless the PCs are paying super close attention, (and listening to the Goblin songs) they are likely to miss the background of the scenario.
So as a disclaimer, I am friends with the author. That said, I do think this is one of the more fun scenarios I've played. It really walks a fine line between the silliness of Goblins and the horror of them, and I enjoyed both playing it and running it.
I have to give a word of warning to all GMs, warm up your vocal chords before you run it, because I had a hoarse voice the next day. But it was worth it to sing the songs. But enjoy it, Brian's one piece of advice to me for running it was "ham it up" and it's really true. This is a good scenario to bring out the RP in a table.
It's not the most difficult scenario for this level, but I think it hits a good level. The session I ran had a full table of level 1s and one level 3, two people went down on the last round of the last encounter (but not dead), so that worked out pretty well.
This was single-handedly the easiest scenario I've ever had to prep for PFS. If your new to gming and looking to get your feet wet this is the perfect scenario for you. Also goblins.
Short review, but I didn't want to wait any longer to recommend this one.
Wordcount might have limited this one, and the author certainly has potential. With a bigger word count, I am pretty certain that this one could have hit the 5-star mark.
I have run it before and will run it again. It seems amazing for groups of new players and I can recommend it.
It might be a bit more complicated than other 1-5s, but it is worth the effort.
Yesterday I ran this scenario and as I’m writing this I have to admit I somewhat lost my voice. I however do not have any regrets. In fact, weeks ago when only the title was known I knew I wanted to run this scenario. Let’s be honest here for a second: Wrath of the Fleshwarped Queen has a nice ring to it. When I found out the author was also responsible for Dead Man’s Debt, a scenario I really like, I got even more hyped and had high expectations. Once I finally had a copy of this scenario scenario in my hands, I was still surprised. It was absolutely not what I had expected, but it was amazing and honestly way better than I could have ever imagined or hoped for.
While the story does start a bit slow and awkward in my opinion, you’re in for a real treat once you finally enter the dungeon. I don’t know how to describe it other than by saying it’s hilarious, insane, extremely enjoyable and utter mayhem. If you thought gnomes or traditional goblins were crazy, you are misinformed. Don’t worry, by playing this scenario you’ll soon find out why and I’m convinced you’ll end up agreeing with me.
The monsters, rooms and mechanics are all amazing, but what really stood out to me is how well it all blends together. The combination of the location and its meaning and background on the one hand and goblins on other is an unexpected mixture, but almost without any effort it just makes sense. The author even made sure that there are opportunities for the players to find out about the background of these goblins and how they got there, which is a hilarious story and worth sharing.
As always there were a few things that could have been better. There were some minor errors in the statblocks and tactics, such as having a crossbow without any bolts, and a certain priest could have been fleshed out a bit more, but it by no means has a negative impact on the overall quality of the scenario. As I mentioned this scenario is a real treat. Great and hilarious enemies, interesting and at times challenging fights, amazing mechanics in certain rooms, great boons on the chronicle sheet and an excellent story, not to mention goblins and new goblinsongs. Seriously, what is not to like? This scenario is a shining example of what a scenario should be. I really hope to see more scenarios from Brian Duckwitz in the future.
To summarize: this is a must-play scenario, so stop reading these reviews and start planning a session for this scenario!
Howdy! Just played this today and had a blast. I'm really interested in the
Spoiler:
Runeguard Prestige class,
but despite the chronicle sheet, there is no reference to it in the Campaign Clarifications. How do you obtain a prestige class that has a prerequisite you cannot legally take, in this case Scribe Scroll?
In Pathfinder Society, Runeguards get Spell Focus instead of Scribe Scroll. We also have the following clarifications and changes that will be added to the next update of the Campaign Clarifications document.
*The rune of charity does not allow for the transfer of spells centered on the caster, such as antimagic field. It does allow the transfer of personal spells, so long as the spells level does not exceed the runeguard's level –2.
*The bonuses from the runes of generosity and humility last until the end of the target's next turn.
*For the rune of zeal, any effects that would reduce the effective level of the metamagic, such as the magical lineage trait, do not apply when determining which metamagic feats "only use up a spell slot 1 level higher".
