I played this module at the 1-2 subtier. This module has (or had?) a good rep, but I didn't particularly like or dislike it.

We played Mists of Mwangi with a fairly challenging set of circumstances. Our party had a new player who had never played a pen and paper role playing game before - she did great! We had two players running pregens for fighter and cleric, and we passed maybe a single saving throw each throughout the scenario for our level one PCs.

**Spoilers follow**

We lost two characters to the template literally the moment we entered the building. Though it may or may not be the case, these two characters appeared to be escaping deeper and deeper into the building - this was great GMing by Doug Miles. I've never been so immediately gripped by the urgency of a situation in pen and paper before this afternoon, with our fighter and our cleric steadily moving farther out of reach.

I was playing the wizard, and I expended half of my prepared spells and two scrolls to rescue the party from what appeared to be a possible early loss.

**Specific details Spoilers! Skip the next paragraph**

(Alter winds to clear an area of breathable air, a toppling magic missile to knock the party member from the rafters, and as he charged me a prepared scroll cast of protection from evil - one down! We rescued the other, a halfling ninja, with an Enlarge Person'd Valeros plucking him from the rafters. It was at about this point I suggested the obvious mundane solution to avoiding the issue)

So we went on through an exciting, and at times potentially deadly, scenario. We had more than one hairy moment (Ha!) where the GM even suggested escaping as a possibility. Carrying on through and eventually completing the scenario felt like a serious accomplishment in Mists of Mwangi.

The mood in this scenario is superb and it features multiple 'gotcha' moments where the scenario reveals unexpected encounter conditions. Every character had a chance to be absolutely essential in combat, essential skill checks, and roleplay - at one point a good knowledge planes check found my strength 7 wizard desperately holding a waterproof bag over the paralyzed Valeros's head.

The end encounter's 'hook's' effectiveness hinges on any one PC making a good perception check, which made the reveal of that crucial information feel like a real accomplishment. The encounter itself's difficulty fell a little flat compared to the previous encounters, which seems to be the opinion generally espoused by other forum members. From the player perspective, though, it felt as if we had earned the advantage through investigation and skill - if we didn't have some of this key information it might have gone differently!

The faction missions were very straightforward and served their function - to keep you from missing the majority of the scenario by skipping to the end! We only missed one encounter - after peeking into the bathroom we quietly apologized for intruding and closed the door!

5 out of 5 fluff
4 out of 5 crunch
5 out of 5 Gamemastering

Thanks for reading

So this mod is a hard one to rate, I like the fact most people enjoy the mod, it just does't do it for me.

I like the museum but I guess something about this one doesn't "work" for me.

I dont really want to spoil anything but I think if I only played it I would give it a 3.

I liked a template...

A good concept, but the module needs a bit more flesh on its bones and maybe a good twist.

Great adventure, but if you are going to DM it, make sure to read the spoiler tread.

I played this scenario at Origins 2010 and had an absolute blast! There are some wonderful opportunities for great roleplaying, hilarity, and some truly tense and exciting combat, even at 1st level. It was my third PFS game ever. I hope to one day introduce players to PFS with this awesome scenario.

Edit: I've revised my review. This new PFS version is now only 2 stars for subtier 1-2. For subtier 4-5, it's still 4 stars.

Mists has the potential for some good roleplaying moments but the amount of fun you have (ironically) directly depends on the party actually failing some initial skill checks and saving throws (to gain the template). In this case, perfection actually means a lot less fun, and the scenario plays out very differently.

Mists runs extremely fast. My table, which had 7 players (2 players had never roleplayed before!) finished it in 2.5 hours, with lots of roleplaying. I've run it two times since and it took 2.5 and 4 hours respectively.

It's unfortunate I've had to downgrade my review. It seems that Paizo fixed subtier 4-5 but broke subtier 1-2.

This review has been updated to the PFS version of Mists of Mwangi instead of the OGL version.

Unfortunately, my review has dropped from a 4-star to a 3-star rating as a result of the update process. While it is still a solid adventure, in comparison with a lot of the newer low-tier modules from seasons 1 and 2, Mists of Mwangi did not translate as well as I had hoped.

Previously I said Mists had a fantastic backdrop; the set-piece of the Blakros Museum is fun and engaging and the flavor provided by this setting really helps make the module. I did though finally decide on a 4-star review originally because this background was so strong. Unfortunately, while that strong background still exists, a number of minor updates really made the module lose some of its charm.

The setting of Mists feels like a nice cross between "A Night at the Museum" and "Evil Dead" and works very well. Easily the shortest of the modules I've played so far, it would be very easy for a group of players to completely bypass the majority of the module with some good dice rolls (avoiding the first encounter altogether) and frankly, reading the door signs. The non-final encounters are varied, and fun for a low-level party. Before I called them lackluster, but now I think they've grown on me. They fit in the adventure well; unfortunately while most well rounded, one in particular falls flat at the low sub-tier with the updates - the one involving the Andoran faction mission specifically.

My main concern regards the final encounter in the adventure. Originally I called the last encounter too difficult. Certain players felt completely ineffectual and the fight dragged on. Oh how the pendulum has swung. The last fight is now an utter cakewalk. Even adding in difficult terrain due to a certain, fun, element in the room, the two bad guys are extremely easy fodder for a moderately well-equipped party (at level 1 it was a blowout, I'd hate to see level 2's play it). In fact, not only have the numbers of the "big-bad-guy" of the original been cut, but its powers are virtually unusable because the fight does not occur outdoors. Even the piddly damage it used to deal has been dropped to near non-existence (seriously, 1d2-4?), and playing hide-and-seek as the module suggests isn't fun because there aren't enough "cannon fodder" creatures to make the fight actually worth playing out. It was unfortunate too, because the ending could be appropriate and climactic, it just wasn't.

I feel bad downgrading my review of this module. I used to like it a lot, now - not nearly as much.

The problem is that after the first really cool encounter which is when the party attacks itself it is plain.

This was the first Pathfinder Society adventure that I got to play. I found it entertaining, but I must say that we bypassed most of the adventure and made a bee line straight to the climatic encounter. As it turned out, this was the second room we cleared. We did return to finish off the rest of the museum, but the adventure had lost some of its zest, because we knew that we were mopping up. It would have been awesome if we had been wrong and walked into another exciting and gut clenching fight.