Pathfinder Society Scenario #2: The Hydra's Fang Incident (OGL) PDF Paizo Publishing, LLC
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After an Andoren village is razed by the Hydra's Fang, a renegade Chelish slaver-ship, outrage threatens the stability of both nations. You and your fellow Pathfinders are sent to capture the Fang before the Inner Sea is pitched into political frenzy.
Written by Tim Hitchcock
This product is a Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 4–5). 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 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
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Good adventure - More fighting than roleplaying
Reviewer:
Saint_Meerkat Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 06:13 PM
The combats are the best part of this nice little adventure from Mr. Hitchcock.
Despite being (in my opinion) built around the combats, the tension does build. By the time the players finally get to their primary objective, they're ready to take out their frustration in spades.
Hydra's Fang is fun for all!
Reviewer:
kikai13 Thu, Oct 8, 2009, 07:22 AM
I have run this adventure twice now, and both times the players have had an absolute blast. It is a fairly simple, straightforward mission, but it moves quickly and the final confrontation has several opportunities for any character class to shine. I rank this as five stars--great fun, great playability, and not quite as difficult as many folks have made it out to be.
(Side note: I recommend that the PCs have at least one other scenario under their belts before playing this one--they certainly do need the potions and scrolls!!)
Fun, fast paced, and very deadly.
Reviewer:
Jason Sonia Fri, Jul 10, 2009, 08:45 AM
I liked the feel of the scenario, but it was a little heavy handed.
I wouldn't run this for 1st level characters unless you were really mad at your players. ;)
+ guite fast paced and offer some unexpected rp elements
- heavyly combat orientet
Linear, yet very playable
Reviewer:
Deussu Tue, Mar 24, 2009, 06:31 AM
Hydra's Fang has an intriguing plot behind it all, but unfortunately to the players it is kept hidden a bit too well. Some events might not make any sense to a casual observer. Luckily matters like this are repairable.
It's rather combat-heavy but provides a good base for roleplaying. It's good for, say, four 2nd-level characters, but any higher and it'd be too much of a cakewalk on Tier 1-2. I haven't seen Tier 4-5 in action, but looking at the encounters it seems it'd be even more of a cakewalk. Aim this to be the characters' third or fourth adventure.
Great story but it felt linear
Reviewer:
SpectacledBear Sun, Mar 22, 2009, 09:55 AM
I recently ran this adventure and found that although the setting and adventure are compelling, the transitions between the scenes felt disjointed. Running this adventure, I felt that there were not many choices as to what happened next and that the players did not always intrinsically know where they were as the next scene unfolded. Nonetheless the players were able to enjoy themselves and the quality of the adventure is very high, as usual.
Could use a little polishing, but still fun
Reviewer:
Hank McCoy Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 08:37 PM
There are some modules that from a DM's point of view feel unremarkable. However, when I run the module, the players see something entirely different and enjoy themselves more than I anticipated. This is one of those modules for me.
The plot is simple and straight forward, however there were a couple of spots where I felt like the NPCs weren't doing entirely logical things or the motivation for doing something should have been explained. Role-playing opportunities can be small depending largely on how the PCs attempt to resolve encounters. I think this brings up the strength of the module which, depending on how player's utilize their PC class, is how varied the final fight can be resolved.
Combat, itself, is pretty much straight-forward but one combat in particular that involved an environmental challenge had me worried for my players. They handled it well with the help of a monk, but weaker parties may have a more difficult time.
Charismatic PCs can definitely fare better in this game than other types, but they will require the assistance of all classes.
Some faction missions seemed to be an after-thought and didn't support or reveal anything new about the overall goal.
Overall, a good module that my players enjoyed quite a bit, in spite of the fact that I felt it could have used a little bit more polishing.
Interesting Port-based adventure
Reviewer:
Gavin Findlay Wed, Nov 5, 2008, 09:10 AM
I quite enjoyed this little adventure. While some of the encounters felt a little bit random they were for the most part quite interesting and though I haven't run it yet I'd imagine they'd be quite challenging.
The city of Diobel is one of the best things about this scenario as even though it is very short you really get a feel for its semi legitimate ways. The seedy underdocks were a particularly cool place to set the adventure. While not my favourite of the scenarios it is a good short adventure.
Not as impressed as I would have hoped
Reviewer:
thelesuit Tue, Sep 23, 2008, 12:09 PM
I have come to expect quite a bit from Pathfinder and Paizo. Production quality is always very high. The encounters are well thought-out and descriptions are vivid and detailed. As this was the first Pathfinder Society module I downloaded or ran, I was expecting more of the same. I have to say I was disappointed. Yes the descriptions were vivid and detailed – I will admit that and the setting was very evocative. But I think the entire premise was rather forced and inappropriate for first level characters. Not all of the encounters were entirely rational. I was also disappointed with the titular vessel. Overall, the module seemed like it was put together in a rush and on the fly. I have heard good things about the author’s work and hope he will take any criticism I have leveled in stride and endeavor to make his next creation that much better.
Played this at Gencon...
Reviewer:
bugleyman Tue, Aug 19, 2008, 04:08 PM
...and then bought the PDF to see the experience from the DM's side of the table. Good production values, very atmospheric descriptions.
Spoiler:
The three ghouls in the end were a bit much. Yes, I know that they were only CR 1 each, but there is just too much chance of failing what likely amounts to a save-or-die roll with that many ghouls running around.
I have a few questions and notices regarding the adventure. I've found some minor editing errors, some of which confuse me. I'll put them under a spoiler tag, since they do contain spoilers.
Spoiler:
Is the town razed by Du Moire named Wittleshine or Wittlestone? Both names appear during the scenario.
The thug doesn't seem to have daggers listed in its gear nor attacks. An easy thing to fix oneself, but still a minor editing error.
On page 9, the map of the Underdocks encounter ... how large squares are they? I'm assuming 10 ft., but they could be 20 ft. 5 ft. would be ridiculously small. And why is the pathway blocked by the bunker? This map seriously made me stop for 30 minutes to try to think why it was ever put there.
Other than that, this scenario is brutal! Very well written and so, but I'd consider the Tier 1-2 to be way too difficult at certain points.
...I saw what you saw with the bunker and docks, but since the description referred to boats being lowered into the water, I just made the part of the docks that sticks out the guard watch post and assumed that they access the rest of the docks via cargo nets or somesuch...but then, I ad-lib stuff all the time. I don't know if that map issue you saw was intentional or not, is what I'm trying to say.
The map scale is 5ft per square (narrow docks). I wanted to keep them a little dangerous.
more on the docks here
Spoiler:
The dock running straight into the the bunker is correct,
however the other dock that seems to just stop... That's actually supposed to go off towards Lubor's Exports.
As far as the final enounter,
Spoiler:
thank Nick the lacedon encounter isn't more brutal, I'd actually used 4 in the original text
More stuff I found that was wonky-
Spoiler:
DuMoire is supposed to be wearing a Signet Ring, though its not listed in his possessions.
I didn’t have quite enough space in my review to explain my statements.
I think the entire premise was rather forced and inappropriate for first level characters.
Spoiler:
The adventure synopsis paints Captain Darsielle Du Moire as the scourge of the Inner Sea and the bane of the Chelish and Andoran navies. He has sunken half a dozen pirate ships! Yet, for most parties he is a 4th level aristocrat surrounded by 1st level warrior flunkies. I think this would have been a much better adventure tiered to challenge 4th or 5th level characters with appropriately dangerous foes.
Not all of the encounters seemed entirely rational.
Spoiler:
Why is the encounter with the Consortium officials in the Underdocks geared to be a combat encounter? These are the duly appointed custodians of law and order in Diobel. Yes the Consortium is made up of criminals, even if these guards are conveniently evil; they still represent the law of the city. Is it rational to assume a party of 1st level adventurers is going to attack what amounts to the City Watch? And are these the ONLY watchmen under the city? Add to this that anyone of the Qadiran faction is pretty much forced to attack them in order to steal their log book. I don’t think this encounter was thought through.
At first I had some serious problems with the sahuagin encounter. It seemed very much like it was thrown in to simply add another combat. Certainly the explanation given in the module text does not do a very good job of explaining it, or providing any rationale for why it would be occurring. I think there are ways to make it work – but they do require making inferences and conjectures that have no basis on the actual text. As written it could be an near insta-kill for a number of parties and anyone dropped into the bay in full armor.
A Possible Solution:
One solution might be that in order to get to where the Hydra's Fang lays at anchor any small boat has to pass through a narrow and shallow "passage" between some large derelict vessels. The sahuagin are lying in wait in the passage waiting for any small boat headed toward the Fang. They know that any boat moving through the passage is going to the Fang as it is the only vessel at anchor in this particular anchorage (the anchorage is somewhat secluded and Darcy bribed the harbor pilot to use it). The sahuagin can easily discern that the row boat headed toward the Fang is being crewed by novice seamen (too much splashing, unsteady oar strokes, bad navigation, etc.). Hence they know that they have a pretty good chance of swamping the boat and dropping the boaters into the shallow waters of the passage. Also, given the orientation of the passage and the Hydra's Fang, any lookouts posted aboard the Fang are unlikely to see the sahuagin's assault.
The party I ran through this module had no trouble dispatching the vicious pirates at each turn. I’m not sure how the dastardly 1st level warriors managed to sink so many pirate ships but they weren’t much of a match for even a lightly optimized adventuring party.
The Hydra’s Fang didn’t work for me.
Spoiler:
Almost nothing about the Hydra’s Fang makes sense. Given that Paizo has put out some very well received nautical adventures I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I would encourage the author to do a little more research about sailing vessels, what it takes to crew them, and how they are put together – I’m still not sure what the big box in the center of the boat is.
I have done quite a bit of research on medieval and Renaissance-era sailing vessels. I probably had a lot more time and energy to devote to this than the author, and came up with an alternative deck plan for the ship.
There is also a discussion going on here with major spoilers.
You should check the spoiler threads be for running it, as there are a couple of wierd issues that you might want to address. Check my maps comments in particular, as they came out a little wonky in the final piece.
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Deussu,
Tim Hitchcock
(Contributor),
