Pathfinder Module: City of Golden Death (PFRPG) (based on
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Paizo Publishing, LLC
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An adventure for 5th-level Pathfinder Roleplaying Game characters.
The Price of Greed
In the center of Lake Encarthan looms the dreaded Isle of Terror, accursed land of mystery and treachery. Hidden within the island's negative energy storms, the secret treasure city of the wizard-king Tar-Baphon has lain sealed for centuries. Now masked cultists have opened the golden city of Xin-Grafar to claim the wealth of the legendary city for the Living God Razmir. Can the PCs track the cultists through the poisoned swamps and blasted wastelands of the Isle of Terror to the City of Golden Death itself? And what forgotten dangers will oppose them as they struggle to prevent a dark faith from spreading across the world?
City of Golden Death is an adventure for 5th-level characters; it is written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's oldest RPG. The adventure features a mix of wilderness and dungeon sites and includes a race through a ruined, golden city to stop evil cultists before the city floods with molten gold!
This adventure is set on the legendary Isle of Terror in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but it can be easily adapted for any game world. It can be used as a stand-alone adventure or as the final chapter of the Price of Immortality trilogy, following the adventures Crypt of the Everflame and Masks of the Living God.
Written by Joshua J. Frost
Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set. This Pathfinder Module includes four pre-made characters so players can jump right into the action, and full-color maps to enhance play.
Encounters were decent but I was disappointed with the conclusion of the 3 module series and wound up rewriting the third module so that it was a satisfying conclusion to my players. The writer of the first two modules in the series was a lot better and it shows in the encounter descriptions and pacing.
The party's justification for going is weak, the rewards miserly, and yet the dangers phenomenal. Only stupid party's need apply.
Also the group the party is chasing bypass encounters and creative players can't bypass any of the fights the same way so it feels like a cheap trick. I added a lot more dead cultists so the party felt the cultists were at least in the same situation.
Another peeve is that tantalizing wealth is repeatedly snatched away from players with rather poor justification. It takes lot of modifications to not feel like GM Fiat to a good group of players. Creative GMing can work around the flaws but it is a lot more work than earlier modules in the series. An ok but far from great conclusion.
Of the three in this beautiful intro arc my favorite had to be the first (Crypt of the Everflame) but each of these modules (Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God, City of Golden Death) are made to show off a little bit of what Pathfinder has to offer. If you're new to Pathfinder it's a great starting point. The city of Golden Death deals with time constraints, situational awareness, and ancient artifacts, wrapped up in the deep history of the Inner Sea region of Golarion. I don't want to give away spoilers so all I'll say is the framers did a good job in finding a way to give each PC, regardless of character class a chance in the spotlight through skill checks and class abilities so fari n the trilogy, The City of Golden Death is no exception.
I really liked the old city concept with it's bunch of history and traps, in addition to the race against the clock, but...
Why on earth the PC would like to go to this extraordinary dangerous place, with inspiring names as Isle of Terror and so ?
Just because Reginar, one barely known pathfinder, asks ?
For the adventure spirit ?
If your players are naive or gentle, it could work, but the involvement will be rather low.
To play this scenario, you will have to think about why low level young adults would have to go to one of the most dangerous place in the world...
That's why the only 3 stars, as PC involvment has been, IMHO, sacrified there.
This module is a pure masterpiece : great baseline, wonderful sceneries, high-pressure environment for characters, twisted NPC and many many interesting ideas for developments and other adventures.
After the smart previous episode, this one ends this mini campaign in fireworks.
Last thing : the mini-campaign concept with 3 modules is a fantastic concept. The perfect middle between one-shot story and too big AP for my too busy players. Please, Paizo's folk... could you write another one like this ? :)
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