Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-02: A Case of Missing Persons (PFRPG) PDF

Missing Persons is an investigation scenario with combat and a little roleplay.

The investigation portion of the story was very boring. The storyline about the Grey Gardener who didn’t wear a mask was a complete waste of time (as we uncovered the story in The Fury of the Final Blade).

Then there is an unexpected and hilarious twist at the end. But then nothing is really done with the twist and it’s short lived.

I played this back when it came out, and then just last night I was the GM for a group of 5 players.

This is an investigation module. You're going to get a list of "suspects" or perhaps better worded is... "persons of interest." You'll head out to interview many NPCs, do a LOT of talking, and a LOT of skill checks. There is some rough & tumble action here for brute-force dummies, but it's sparse. You really want to bring a PC that can at least attempt to Aid Another on a few skills. Also, this is one of those "pay attention and write down leads and hints" kind of scenarios. If you don't like that stuff, take a pass.

One of the players, at the end of the game night, said it was good that I was running it, as some other GMs might have shortchanged the role play, perhaps just asking for a handful of skill checks and then moving on. In my case, I spoke as if I were the NPCs, and I challenged the players to hit upon the key points that each NPC cared about. I didn't call for skill rolls until they earned it with some good back & forth banter, and I didn't give them the info they wanted unless they backed up their words with great rolls. And OH MY did they ever get good rolls.

All the investigation probably took 2 hours of real-world time. Then they were off to put their information to use. Interestingly, this could have been 3 hours of bloodshed, but these role players found ways to avoid almost all of that. And the scenario works fine with that!

I really enjoyed playing these NPCs. Particularly Fiffernetter. I won't give away who she is, but she's very enjoyable to play as an unlikely cross between Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter series) and Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz). She was great fun. Also, I really enjoyed a "trick" the scenario uses for the NPC interactions (spoiler):

Having heaped some praise on this, let's talk about the 2 major issues I have with it. The first is the time limitation. We're trying to run an open-ended investigation game in a 4-hour time slot, but there is enough material here for 6 hours of game play. The last set-piece encounter/thing you do can be approached a dozen different ways, with a brute-force dumbed-down charge, or a nuanced stealthy recon mission followed by deception and more lengthy social interactions. Anything in between those extremes is also likely and the product even covers a lot of possibilities. This alone could take an hour or more, yet we were already at the 4+ hour mark when we got to the endgame. That's ridiculous.

I did see some reviews saying the game runs short. I don't know how that is possible unless you're doing exactly what my player dreads -- you short-change all the investigation work down to just "Roll these 5 skill checks and I'll give you an info dump." If you're doing that, I guess maybe you have to in a tight time slot, but it really seems like it bypasses pages & pages of the author's work.

The 2nd issue? It's discussed in the GM discussion forum for this product. That is, if you follow the rules of the module, you are mandated to have the players fail their mission. I'll briefly summarize it here, but the GM forum is a better place for this:

Despite the 2 flaws, I had an incredible time with this product. I had a lot of fun, lots of memorable characters, and a great story as well. It's just a great time. I'd give it 5 stars, then dock 1 star for the flaws, and we're left with a 4-star product. Thank you Paizo for a great game.

This scenario is an important one for those involved with the Liberty’s Edge faction and not just because the blurb above says so. Instead of freeing the odd slave, this scenario focuses on the ongoing and overarching goals of the faction and its leadership. As such it’s a mandatory scenario almost.

Thankfully it’s also a good scenario. It’s an investigation with multiple turns and unexpected surprises. You’ll have to gather a variety of clues, which is something that can be done in multiple ways. The combats that may or may not happen also provide some fun challenges you’ll not see coming. Or in the case of one foe will definitely see coming, but in a hilarious way.

This scenario is a fun investigation with unexpected twists. Meanwhile the encounters are solid. I can’t find a reason why people wouldn’t enjoy this. The only downside to this scenario is that it ends as a mystery. With that I mean that it ends up foreshadowing another possible adventure or scenario. You are left with more questions than answers and while this makes you want to play the next part as well, you remain with a feeling that you didn’t entirely complete your task, which in my case slightly bothers me.

That said, it’s minor nitpick and I’m still really looking forward to discovering where this will lead us.

I played this and then ran it, I found it fun in both instances.

There is plenty of content for role players, and plenty of options to allow a creative party to sold a particular problem. When I played it we used tactic A, and when I ran it the players took an entirely different tack.

I would be happy to run this again.