I really liked the adventure, but it can be quite deadly. I advice playing down with a balanced table of expierenced players!

This mod features nothing but gemmic encounters that make sense to the GM while reading it but which the PCs have no real way of understanding. This makes the tone of the mod to be more of a 'Gotcha!' than is in any way fun.

I will never run this event again.

This would be a good scenario if for the fact that it did not claim to support 1st level characters. This is the deadliest, most unbalanced scenario I have seen.

Every puzzle battle was an EL 5 battle fight where every resource available had to be spent just to avoid a TPK.

I liked the plot and concepts that were there, but I can never recommend the scenario, especially for 1st level characters.

I have read this scenario and considered it to sure work awesome... until I ran it.
Some of the rooms are confusing to describe to the players, albeit not nearly half as bad as the town in "Hydra Fang".
What kind of broke this adventure for me were two separate issues:
The first would be the already mentioned "Video-gamism"-feeling.
The second issue I had was one of suspension of disbelief: The puzzles were too simple. Perhaps my players and I are total nerds, but I really thought that any experienced treasure hunters who failed to solve them must have been utter idiots.
I am so longing for adventures with REALLY hard puzzles in some future release(at least as a web-enhancement or something like that). My players long to use their brains and this adventure, in spite of its name, unfortunately fails to provide that.

This scenario started out with great promise, but quickly turned into a trap ladden tomb that seemed to lose steam as the adventure progressed.

The chambers were different and unique, but the traps did not require a rogue. Will someone please write an scenario that shows the necessity of a rogue? My party just did it the old fashioned way. They took it on the chin.

The group took a lot of damage, but with a cleric and a druid it did not matter much. The adventure threatened the party, and they were nervous, which is great.

Still, the descriptions of the rooms and the mechanics of the rooms should be TOGETHER. I found it annoying and unnecessary to flip back and forth throughout the module for each room.

Combat 4 stars
Enjoyment 4 stars
Playability 1 star
(A better layout would have been greatly appreciated.)

AWESOME! I played this adventure Genconoz 2009 with a party of 4 tier 1-2. The party consisted of a 2 rangers, a fighter and a sorcerer. Some how we managed to survive!

This is a thinking adventure. If you want to be challenged than this is the adventure for you. I would not recommend this adventure for players new or inexperience to PFRPG/D&D.

I ran this one at a convention. On paper the adventure does actually sound pretty cool, but in execution, several of the room descriptions are confusing, with key parts of the descriptions in two different parts of the adventure.

On top of that, while it seems like the forshadowing chase scene in the beginning will be a nice way to add some depth, without any follow up, my players really felt that it was just thrown in so that the whole thing wouldn't be a dungeon crawl, especially since there was no follow up.

Finally, many of my players were immediately making fun of the "video gamisms" that were part of the scenario, which overshadowed any "Indy" feel that the traps had.

In the end, when I read through it, these things didn't jump out at me, but in practice, I can see where problems arise in this.

I just didn't run this scenario, I only played as a PC but it was a great one. The build-up to the dungeon dive was epic, with a caravan journey and desert bandits and the dungeon itself didn't disappoint.

In conclusion, although The Third Riddle had a few minor setbacks, they were mostly very technical. The plot, background, NPCs, encounters, and puzzles were well thought out and designed and very enjoyable to play through. I highly recommend this Scenario.

I am going to agree with Deussu on this one. It’s a stinker, and it’s a real shame because the author tried very hard to be creative and original. To begin with the timeline is messed up. The veteran Pathfinder Colm Safan comes off as a complete fool. The warm-up encounter should be the final act instead of the first. The ‘puzzles’ are overcomplicated for the purpose they are supposed to serve. Basically they were written to be atypical and mysterious rather than to make sense. They're just too conveniently set up to be puzzles, it’s like there’s a studio audience being entertained behind the scenes. I debated whether or not to review this scenario because I was always so negative about it. I’ve run it three times and so far it’s still my least favorite to run for the players. Sorry Clinton!

Another solid adventure for the Society’s roguish scholars, The Third Riddle has the strongest “Indiana Jones” vibe of any I’ve seen so far. It can be approached as a “puzzle dungeon”, but those who prefer more a “direct” approach have plenty of opportunities for battle.

My players enjoyed trying to outthink the challenges of the Ravenous Sphinx, bantering with the NPCs, quoting from raiders of the Lost Ark, and trying to “beat” the puzzle aspects of the scenario. The combats were interesting and well-balanced: Their unusual terrain inspired my players to try a variety of odd stunts, leaping from catwalks and climbing on shelves.

The Third Riddle does reward substantial GM preparation. Some of the information inside is laid out in a way reminiscent of the WotC “delve” format, with rooms described on one page and the inhabitants or traps described on a different page. Because the scenario is so short, I didn’t find the layout to be a problem when I ran the scenario.

The Gamemastery Map Pack: Caravans would definitely come in handy for one encounter. (Since I hadn’t purchased the map pack yet, I enlarged and photocopied the illustrations given for the expedition’s wagons, using them to depict the caravan.)

This scenario's material could have been effectively expanded to twice the size. A GM using it for a home game could easily make this part of a larger arc, taking seeds mentioned in the adventure and building its plotline into several adventure sessions. The “Third Riddle” of the title could trigger a massive political and magical conflict if additional rumors surfaced about Nethys’ lethal secret.