Good PFS Scenarios for Non-Society Play


GM Discussion


Hey all! I'm looking for good Golarion adventures to use. James Jacobs has responded a couple times to "I wish there was still a Dungeon magazine that published small scenarios" with "Well we have PFS!" But as a non-PFS player, I have no idea which scenarios are good or not - and especially good or not for home play.

I did play a lot of RPGA Living campaigns back in the day (was a Living Greyhawk Triad), and I'll be honest I wasn't knocked out by the quality of a lot of those adventures from a home play perspective - they were very constrained by their format. What do I mean by that? "Well you have to have X encounters of CR Y and only give out Z treasure..." That's all well and good for organized play but it comes across as quite formulaic in traditional campaign play.

So which PFS adventures might a "normal AP" GM find interesting to stick into a home campaign?

I'd want them to:
- Not be tied too much into the campaign metaplot
- Not be tied too much into the factions
- Not be tied too much into having to be a Pathfinder
- Not feel absurdly constrained by the PFS format/rules, especially for Joe Gaming Group who could give a crap about strict RAW or CR appropriateness or Wealth By Level and instead values the game world/character experience

In other words, "If I were to want filler between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Regular Paizo AP #N, what adventures would be good for that?"

Thanks...

Silver Crusade 2/5

The Beggar's Pearl is remarkably good.

If you want a fun pair of scenarios, Among the Dead and Among the Living work well (replace the Pathfinder Society with Taldor's security service).

Murder on the Throaty Mermaid is *amazing*.

Below the Silver Tarn is also a really good scenario.

The Frostfur Captives is awesome, and you can treat it as that you were contracted out by the Pathfinder Society.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber

Everything related to the Blackros series can be good if you want to tie in Absalom's most notorious family. I also think Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment is very good and adaptable.

There are more; I'll try and type them up later.

Dark Archive

Frozen Fingers of Midnight
To Scale the Dragon

Great stories and a lot of fun to GM.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

I'm very partial to the Penumbral Accords and Voice in the Void (Blakrose), the Frozen Fingers of Midnight, and the God's Market Gamble are very good.

I didn't like Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment so much.

Personally, I tend to like the earlier scenarios more than the later ones over all, as the earlier ones tended to be fairly bare bones and leaving a lot of room for DM's to fill while the later ones, tend to be very specific.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber

The Goblinblood Dead is fairly adaptable, but a straightforward guard duty/dungeon crawl for the most part. Murder on the Silken Caravan is also a guard duty type scenario that is easily adapted.

Liberty's Edge 4/5

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try this address, it gives locations and links for descriptions of the scenarios. would link it but suck at doing it, sorry.
http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Category:Pathfinder_Society_scenarios_by_loc ation

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Second to Empyreal Enlightenment and Throaty Mermaid.

Other good non-PFS-specific scenarios would include Severing Ties, The Night March of Kalkemedes, The Frostfur Captives [if you can come up with a good reason that your party is escorting goblins], the Jester's Fraud or The Pallid Plague.

More specific recommendations could, of course, happen if you were to describe more of what you want out of the scenarios. Do you want heavy RP/combat? If RP, what region? Etc.

Edit: I LOVE Gods' Market Gamble, it's in my top 5 favorite scenarios, but it's also tied heavily into Pathfinder Society lore. The scenario involves figuring out who is robbing/murdering PFS agents, and I feel that it wouldn't work as well for your purposes.

Sovereign Court 5/5 Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

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Hey, Ernest. I subscribed to Dungeon from #1 all the way through to the point where they switched to 3.0, and I miss that format as well. I continued to play 1e/2e for years after ending my subscription, using those old mags to fuel campaigns. Now that I play Pathfinder, I have found a ton of good stuff in PFS scenarios, utilizing them very much like I used to utilize Dungeon Magazine.

I have successfully adapted each of the following to home campaigns:

#24 - Decline of Glory
#38 - No Plunder, no Pay
#43 - The Pallid Plague
#2-01 - Before the Dawn Pt 1
#2-02 - Before the Dawn Pt 2

Have plans for each of the following:

#3 - Murder on the Silken Caravan
#4 - The Frozen Fingers of Midnight
#6 - Black Waters
#11 - The Third Riddle
#15 - The Asmodeus Mirage
#39 - The Citadel of Flame
#40 - Hall of Drunken Heroes
#2-03 - The Rebel's Ransom
#2-20 - Wrath of the Accursed
#3-02 - Sewer Dragons of Absalom
#3-16 - The Midnight Mauler

And think any of these are great candidates for adaptation:

#10 - Blood at Dralkard Manor
#19 - Skeleton Moon
#2-13 - Murder on the Throaty Mermaid
#3-18 - The God's Market Gamble
#3-24 - The Golden Serpent
#4-01 - Rise of the Goblin Guild
#4-03 - The Golemworks Incident
#4-07 - Severing Ties

The Before the Dawn series was awesome for introducing a whole piece of one player's background and family history. And The Pallid Plague has created a story thread with cultists of Gyronna (replacing the cult that was in the original scenario) that we are still following.

If you want more specific advice feel free to private message me. Or ask here. Whatever you're comfortable with.


Thanks for the tips! Am off on vacation for a week so can't respond right now in the depth I'd like, but I appreciate y'all understanding my needs and being helpful.

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