Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-01: The Frostfur Captives (PFRPG) PDF (based on
17
reviews)
Paizo Publishing, LLC
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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for Levels 1–5.
Tasked with escorting a group of goblin prisoners from their camp to civilization for interrogation by the Pathfinder Society, you must protect them not only from the beasts and hazards of the wilderness, but themselves.
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 Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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I've both run and played in this scenario. It's very fun and chock-full of roleplaying opportunities with the goblins, but it's not well-suited to the four-hour block of time allotted for most Pathfinder Society games.
In both experiences, the first encounter took over two hours. The fifth encounter took over an hour in the game that I played, and we had to skip it entirely in the game that I ran.
Spoiler:
In the first encounter, Icetooth Towers, the PCs have to run across a 100'+ trail towards two towers that are guarding a mountain pass. Then they have to break down the door to the tower they wish to enter (which is easy due to the doors being goblin-made), climb up a 50' ladder, and finally fight the 2 goblins at the top. The first round, one of the goblins starts to light a smoke signal, so the PCs have six rounds to reach the top of the tower and extinguish the smoke before it can be seen from the nearby town of Harvest's End. In both games, each group was able to extinguish the fire before Round 6, so it's possible, but it was a very close call in both runs. The smoke added an urgency to the scene, which helped keep the players moving quickly. The total distance involved to reach the top of the towers was the real enemy and adding the Frostfur goblins to the combat mix slowed things down even more as there were suddenly twice the number of PC-friendly combatants to manage.
In the fifth encounter, the group meets a creepy little doll that is annoyingly hard to hurt due to her levitation ability and her DR 2/magic. The doll was almost out of spells by the time the PCs pinged her to death with ranged attacks and spells. If it weren't for the Magus in the party, she would have easily exhausted all of her spells before being forced to engage the group in close combat. This combat could have gone badly for groups lacking an arcane caster.
That said, everyone enjoyed the adventure. The long encounters hamstrung the opportunity for roleplaying with the goblins as we only had a 4-hour window in which to play. I highly recommend this scenario, but only for groups that aren't working under a time limit.
Mostly echoing the other reviews here, but this really was pretty awesome. The only real complaint is that there are too many encounters to leave time for the goblins which are the driving force of the scenario.
Spoiler:
The most memorable thing in my first run was in the first encounter. The PCs had the Goblins tied from their hands with a rope which was also tied to one PC (yes, the goblins were behaving badly because of this, but the PCs decided to do it even at the cost of slowing down).
The PC on the rope got shot to negative HPs before even getting a turn, prompting the bloodthirsty goblins to charge towards the tower, dragging the unconscious PC (who luckily stabilized) behind them in the snow. The goblins, moving at half speed, took double moves, making it hard for the gnome healer to catch them and get the PC up.
This scenario has plenty of tough challenges; scaled just right for the group I ran (sub tier 1-2, one lvl 3 one lvl 2 four lvl 1). But there is not one moment -- including the midst of tactical combat -- that problem solving and role-play were not absolutely critical.
The faction rewards are hard to earn, and require some ingenuity from the players (no simple widget hunts here).
If your PCs are of the, ahem, hit it over the head with a stick and tie it up variety, this module could be pretty boring. They would miss out on much of the information that can be gained by working *with* their goblin captives; but even worse they would miss all of the *fun* of playing with the sadistic amusing goblin captives. Do not run a group of non-roleplayers thorough this -- you'd be casting pearls before swine.
It is hard to run in the allotted time. We had to skip the optional encounter and still went to 6 hours. But it was worth every second. This adventure is a GREAT companion adventure to "We Be Goblins!"
Meanwhile, the goblin cult of "Deezna the Destroyer" is gaining traction in the world -- thanks to "warlord-shaman Reynaldi."
Great fun. Amusing setting,varied encounters. Is somewhat dependent on GM skill to make the major plot element memorable. Yet more overuse of the Mountain Pass map loses it some points, though.
This scenario was tons of fun both to play and to run. It's hard to write this while resisting the urge to just tell all the stories that came up. It's a different kind of mission than you usually get (for me personally, the first escort mission I've ever played in PFS) and is pretty well-executed.
My one complaint is that a couple of the faction missions were somewhat confusingly worded. In particular, the Grand Lodge faction mission reads a little vague. I was confused about who I was/wasn't allowed to see/do what, and when I ran it as a GM later, the Grand Lodge player at the table had the same confusion.
“Rorg the goblin stands up on top of the hillock, his pants down, his face creased in strain as he attempts to pass the three bottles of alchemists fire he pilfered from you and swallowed yesterday.
You and your goblin prisoners watch, horror-struck.
(rolls a d100, the result is below 50. 16 fire damage on a 6hp creature.)
Rorg shrieks and erupts in a miniature fireball. Your faces are splattered with bits of goblin as a miniature mushroom cloud blasts from what used to be Rorg. The rest of the goblins begin shrieking with delight.”
This is a hilarious and well-executed module that manages to perfectly blend adventure, spooky horror, comedy, cinematic battles and canny diplomacy. It captures the atmosphere of an accessible and fun Pathfinder Society mission and is a great choice for lively tables. It’s criminal to play PFS and not run this module.
PROS:
-The use of goblins. As everyone else has said, roleplaying the goblins is wonderful. As I told my table “think of them as 5-year-old children who’ve been chugging red cordial for two days straight.” Players who would normally slay monsters on sight suddenly have squealing little mischief makers tied to them and making their lives hell.
-The atmosphere of Irrisen is captured perfectly.
-The battles do not feel ‘inserted’ and for the most part, are differentiated.
-Faction missions are clever and build the theme of the factions, especially the Sczarni and Andoran missions.
CONS:
-The module has provided minimum guidance to the GM on how to add that extra flavour to the goblins. I suspect this has been done to allow serious tables to have the goblins be more sadistic and for wacky tables to have the goblin nudity, explosions, self-combustion, all-sorts. Creative GMs will excel, those that follow words as written might struggle to make the module as great as it can be. You must definitely give separate personalities to all of the goblins.
-The encounter in the woods is scaled back poorly for low level parties and results in a strange ‘one-trick’ creature that’s not as effective as it could be.
-The final combat map is gargantuan! Too big for any flipmat in it's entirety.
Here are some facts about goblins that Paizo included in the scenario, which I thought was the best part of the entire game.
- They will steal and swallow flasks of alchemist's fire to use later. These flasks have a chance of exploding. My players lost a goblin this way.
- They have a natural affinity for wolves and will attempt to wrangle / ride any encountered wolves to freedom. My players lost a goblin this way.
- They are never to be trusted. Throughout the game I had the goblins feed my players misinformation, distraction, and overall sew tiny seeds of dissent among the PC's.
By the end of the adventure, they were more than happy to see the remaining pair of greenskins off and have whenever a new scenario has them encounter goblins, they have an entirely new respect for their wicked intent. My favorite thing is that now, whenever we have a new player showing interest in the game, one of the veterans will put an arm over the newbie's shoulder and say. "Well friend, let me tell you something about goblins." This is how being a GM should feel, like you play the emotional strings in your players hearts as easy as a guitar player strums chords. I broke 5 people's spirits that night with goblins. Goblins!
This adventure was insanity! But a good insanity. If you like to take RP liberties, this module is for you and your table!
Word to the GM's and players: This module does run a little long, and it's not good for any table larger than 6 people due to it's nature and the situation. So be ready to do some serious roleplay and have loads of fun playing!
The goblin prisoners are GREAT roleplaying fodder, and work well when you give them all names and personalities. However, the module will run long already, with 6 encounters plus the roleplay hijinks of the goblins. Best to shorten the storm segment, or you'll run out of time for the big encounter at the ferry and the climax. One of my favorites!
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