Great scenario with balanced encounters. There are 6 scenes with one optional scene. Only downside is to GM this you need to do research to do it justice. Not a great pick up and run adventure.

First I have ran this and played it more than once.

Roleplay 3 stars
Roleplay with a dm familiar with the City of Strangers 5 Stars
Combat 2 Stars

If you do run this purchase the city of strangers book. I think it totally changes the mod. Then sit back and let the city tell a story to the players.

It is hard to rate this mod so low but the combat part of it leaves allot to be desired. I am glad I ran it and hope pathfinders will keep enojoying this utterly fantastic setting.

This module is very well written, but the combat encounters are both underpowered and boring. CR2 Goblins at Tier 7? That's just a waste of time at that level. Both part 1 and part 2 suffer from the same problem as so many Pathfinder Society mods - its a 'Humans and Humanoids' adventure, 99.9% of the Bestiary is ignored.
Kaer Maga is an original setting to be sure, but only if you have the book describing it, all that detail is completely left out of the mod, and for the most part, the locations suffer a lack of description.

I decided upon 5 stars for this module because I simply don't want to give the wrong impression about my overall feelings. While there is one minor misstep throughout this module, none to date have oozed roleplay from its pores like The Shadow Gambit. While most modules offer up some routine and good opportunities for the people who like to roleplay, none that I have played have an entire section with upwards of an hour of play dedicated to it like this module. In my experience, with the right ambiance, players get a chance to feel like they're part of this city, and for the first time ever the faction missions play a significant part of it.

If you're planning on GMing this module, you really need to understand Kaer Maga because the only way to successfully run it, is to let the city speak for itself. Frankly, you should just go out and buy The City of Strangers not only because it's such a good book, but because it makes the module just that much better.

My one issue is similar to Doug's. The encounters are not significantly challenging. It makes for a great introductory module because of this, but after a session or two (or Gods forbid 2nd level players), they will simply blow through the encounters as written. As I mentioned a the beginning of my review though, none of this matters though when the module is just that strong to begin with.

While it's not required, reading City of Strangers will be very helpful in fleshing out Kaer Maga and makes for a much richer environment for the players & GM and I'd definitely recommend it. As part one of a two-part series establishing a feel for the city for this adventure makes it easy to maintain player connection to the city for part two. And because many of the faction goals require a bit of investigation within various districts of the city, making the setting memorable was a natural outcome of the players' desire to fulfill their faction quests. This is a great example of how faction goals can be used to guide player action while creating a stronger connection to the campaign setting.

The adventure itself had great pacing between combat and role-playing encounters while allowing everything to flow together logically and smoothly. Combat encounters were well balanced, although somewhat average tactically. The inclusion of some interesting weapon choices helped make them more fun. The real highlight for this adventure was that the PCs were able to meet & interact with several prominent NPCs in the city. Even interacting with minor NPCs that had short but unique personality descriptions became fun and eased the workload of the GM to create them on the fly. Characters that have a high charisma score or well developed personalities will really be given the chance to flex those attributes in this adventure.

Although I'm of the opinion that many Pathfinder Society adventures are somewhat of a rail-road due to time constraints and single-session style, this adventure definitely felt more open ended than others. That open-ended feel worked well with this setting in particular to highlight the uniqueness of the city while requiring the players to interact with the sandbox. Anything that encourages my players to do more than react to combat scenarios makes for a great game.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this adventure and the icing on the cake is that it becomes a great way to introduce an significant, ongoing storyline that stretches beyond itself or its sequel.

Is quite good.

One thing I learnt. wizards do not do well in melee against other wizards in melee.

(Me and the enemy wizard had both used all our spells and were doing 1-2 damage every 2nd or so round. )

the colour sprayed and dominated fighter eventually recovered and we won.

Many PFS scenarios make you feel as if you’re on a plotline railroad that only stops for scheduled encounters. Although the same could be argued for The Shadow Gambit, the players won’t notice it. Kaer Maga, the City of Strangers, is a very colorful and fascinating setting. To do this scenario justice, a prepared GM must have a copy of the Pathfinder Chronicles “City of Strangers” by James Sutter. Without it, Kaer Maga is like an unblossomed flower.

As for the scenario itself, the campaign setting flavor is excellent. Kaer Maga is nothing like any other city the Pathfinder Society scenarios have been set in. The combats are the largest let-down with this scenario, being way too easy on the players. Unless there’s a four-player table or playing up, most fights are pushovers. However, the real draw of this scenario is the plot and the exploration of the city. The players will enjoy themselves but there is a feeling like they’re sheltered or isolated from the real dangers of Kaer Maga. The Faction missions are OK and present some opportunity for humor. Sutter’s excellent companion to this scenario earns it an extra star.

Is about the only word to describe this mod. I both played and ran this mod at Origins 2010. The intrigue that feeds into part 2 is great. The story line and the NPCs spectacular. I can't wait for the successive parts to the series; in fact my warrior will not be leveled until this series is done!!

I played this scenario at Origins a couple of days ago and it was definitely my favorite of the con. I'm not sure how much detail to go into since it hasn't been released yet and doesn't have a description so I'll try to keep things as vague as possible.

The Shadow Gambit takes place in Kaer Maga in Varisia. It has a good mix of role-playing and some good fights. The first encounter is a bit perfunctory, but that's really the only complaint I have. After that our party spent a good deal of time travelling the city hunting down leads and several different individuals. Both encounters prior to the final one were interesting and rewarded us for using our brains. I heard of one party that went in aggressively and was wiped out, so just fair warning to think before you act.

The final fight in the opera house was fun. It wasn't quite as challenging as it was probably intended to be but I think that was due to the rather unorthodox tactics our group used and the way we took advantage of a couple of scrolls we picked up earlier in the adventure.

I also liked the way we were sort of drip fed hints about the organization behind the nefarious activity and the foreshadowing of things to come in the next chapter (which unfortunately I won't get to play until GenCon). Overall this was a well written scenario. It was well balanced and if you appreciate well thought out role-playing you'll like it.