I need a good social scenario.


GM Discussion

Grand Lodge 2/5

I'm going over to a friend's house this weekend and he wants his wife to play Pathfinder and see what she thinks. She would want a mostly social scenario. He has only played one pfs scenario, which was God's Market Gamble (if I remember correctly, it was all investigation, with one chase scene, a small combat, then a combat at the end).

I've heard that Library of the Lion has little combat, so that could be a good choice, but I haven't played that one so don't know anything about it.

So in summary, lvl 1, mostly social/investigation, and little to no combat.

5/5

claudekennilol wrote:

I'm going over to a friend's house this weekend and he wants his wife to play Pathfinder and see what she thinks. She would want a mostly social scenario. He has only played one pfs scenario, which was God's Market Gamble (if I remember correctly, it was all investigation, with one chase scene, a small combat, then a combat at the end).

I've heard that Library of the Lion has little combat, so that could be a good choice, but I haven't played that one so don't know anything about it.

So in summary, lvl 1, mostly social/investigation, and little to no combat.

It has a complicated tracking system you need to be prepared for, but 5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade is very investigative heavy (with strong rails).

The Disappeared from season 4 is another good investigative lower level scenario.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Library of the Lion.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32

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Good social scenarios with minimal combat:
City of Strangers series
Murder on the Throaty Mermaid
The Immortal Conundrum
The Disappeared
The Blakros Matrimony
Night March of Kalkamedes
The Stolen Heir
Library of the Lion
The Horn of Aroden
Scars of the Third Crusade
The Merchant's Wake

Good social scenarios with heavier combat:
The Frostfur Captives
The Quest for Perfection series
Severing Ties
My Enemy's Enemy
The Wardstone Patrol
The Hellknight's Feast
The Stranger Within
The Paths We Choose (Taldor/Sovereign Court, Andoran/Liberty's Edge and Silver Crusade missions)
The Technic Siege

Grand Lodge 2/5

Netopalis wrote:

Good social scenarios with minimal combat:

City of Strangers series
Murder on the Throaty Mermaid
The Immortal Conundrum
The Disappeared
The Blakros Matrimony
Night March of Kalkamedes
The Stolen Heir
Library of the Lion
The Horn of Aroden
Scars of the Third Crusade
The Merchant's Wake

Good social scenarios with heavier combat:
The Frostfur Captives
The Quest for Perfection series
Severing Ties
My Enemy's Enemy
The Wardstone Patrol
The Hellknight's Feast
The Stranger Within
The Paths We Choose (Taldor/Sovereign Court, Andoran/Liberty's Edge and Silver Crusade missions)
The Technic Siege

Isn't night march of Kalkamedes almost entirely combat?

Spoiler:

Let's see.. from memory, the encounters are
brambles (not combat)
bandits
bears
water (not combat)
cliff (not combat)
skunk
puzzle (not combat)
zombie baby dragon

Ok, so maybe it's not as combat heavy as I thought (if my memory is correct) but that's more combat than I was thinking for this session.

Likewise with The Merchant's Wake, that has more combat than I'd like for this, too.

Scarab Sages 4/5 5/55/5 *

I' going to second The Disappeared. I had the best time GMing this scenario because of its social encounters.

Dark Archive 5/5 *

I would add Fortress of the Nail to the list.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32

claudekennilol wrote:
Netopalis wrote:

List.

Isn't night march of Kalkamedes almost entirely combat?

** spoiler omitted **

Ok, so maybe it's not as combat heavy as I thought (if my memory is correct) but that's more combat than I was thinking for this session.

Likewise with The Merchant's Wake, that has more combat than I'd like for this, too.

I wouldn't say so. The bulk of Kalkamedes is trying to find creative solutions to keep the titular character safe. Even the combat encounters focus on that. Yes, there is combat, but it's hardly the focal point, and it's fairly trivial combat at that.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
claudekennilol wrote:

I've heard that Library of the Lion has little combat, so that could be a good choice, but I haven't played that one so don't know anything about it.

So in summary, lvl 1, mostly social/investigation, and little to no combat.

My table managed to finish Library of the Lion without ever rolling an attack roll. It is, however, a beast to prepare.

I recommend The Disappeared as well, despite having a little more combat than Library. The Stolen Heir can be almost entirely roleplay as well.

Silver Crusade 2/5

I have a special envelope for Library of the Lion, with all the bits saved in it.

Scarab Sages 3/5

Yeah I have a one page cheat sheet typed up with all the little rules and details for Library of the Lion. It and Night March are my absolute favorite PFS scenarios.

4/5

I would shy away from a couple of the scenarios with very-cool-but-PFS-specific stories in them. For example, Paths We Choose is much more interesting if you have a clue what the factions are but are not sure which faction to join. Likewise, a large part of the appeal of Blakros Matrimony and Hellknight's Feast is dealing with important movers and shakers in the PFS world. (There's certainly nothing that says you must have previous PFS experience to enjoy these, but I've just noticed that players with PFS experience tend to like them more.)

Of those listed so far, Library of the Lion, Horn of Aroden, Scars of the Third Crusade, and The Disappeared don't lose anything by not having previous knowledge of the world.

The Disappeared and Library of the Lion would be a good choices for someone who loves TV shows like Leverage or the old Avengers (Steed and Peel) and Mission Impossible (not the movies--different feel). Scars of the Third Crusade is a good choice for someone who likes police procedurals (CSI - Mendev). Horn of Aroden can be made to fit a lot of different interests, depending on how you want to handle the main NPC.

Silver Crusade 4/5

The Disappeared is my favorite, although there have been plenty of other good suggestions here. Just remember, you need to download the Mission Impossible theme song to play during The Disappeared. And remember to end the VC's mission briefing with "This Venture-Captain will self destruct in 20 seconds."

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Netopalis wrote:

Good social scenarios with minimal combat:

City of Strangers series
Murder on the Throaty Mermaid
The Immortal Conundrum
The Disappeared
The Blakros Matrimony
Night March of Kalkamedes
The Stolen Heir
Library of the Lion
The Horn of Aroden
Scars of the Third Crusade
The Merchant's Wake

Eh, some of them have minimal combat, sure, but at least City of Strangers(particularly the second one) are mostly combat. No surprise, given the writer. The first part has an interesting skill challenge though.

I don't recall too much about the Immortal Conundrum, but there were several encounters and we almost had a tpk in high tier.

Sovereign Court 5/5

My favorite social scenario is Murder on the Throaty Mermaid, as suggested earlier.

It's not replayable which is a shame, because it has a neat Clue-like mechanic to configure who's guilty of the eponymous murder.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32

Muser wrote:
Netopalis wrote:

Good social scenarios with minimal combat:

City of Strangers series
Murder on the Throaty Mermaid
The Immortal Conundrum
The Disappeared
The Blakros Matrimony
Night March of Kalkamedes
The Stolen Heir
Library of the Lion
The Horn of Aroden
Scars of the Third Crusade
The Merchant's Wake

Eh, some of them have minimal combat, sure, but at least City of Strangers(particularly the second one) are mostly combat. No surprise, given the writer. The first part has an interesting skill challenge though.

I don't recall too much about the Immortal Conundrum, but there were several encounters and we almost had a tpk in high tier.

It may just be my love of Kaer Maga combined with my store's love of Kaer Maga, but City of Strangers feels very combat light to me. We all really get into the lore of the city.

Immortal Conundrum is pathetically easy for its tier. If the GM is willing to draw out the pre-dinner scene, that's the scenario, to my mind.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

The dissapeared is awesome, but the rest of the party would need to be at least a bit experienced with pathfinder. Mostly because if you are totally unfamiliar with the rules you wont see every opurtunity.

I totally second Night March of Kalkamedes (you dont have to solve every encounter with combat, my table had food with them and just threw that in front of the bear and ran away).

The Stolen heir can also be done entirely on roleplay alone if you are good at it.

Grand Lodge 2/5

Reading the intro to the disappeared makes me think this might not be the right scenario.

It seems like there's probably too much lore for new pathfinders to appreciate. Also there's a lot of mechanical stuff that new players wouldn't be aware are options. And I don't want the "time sensitive" part to appear to be stressful for people that don't yet know how to play.

I'll take a look over Library of the Lion and see how that one feels.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

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Library of the Lion was the second scenario I played. The GM had obviously put a lot of work into preparing it, but as a player you can just start with it without much preparation. All you need to know is that the crusade to the Worldwound is in the works, and then the scenario makes sense. Anything else is gravy. We had a great time.

The Stolen Heir was the first one we played. We had a little bit of combat but not much, and even then it was restrained violence; one random henchmen and some wild animals were the only casualties. It was also a lot of fun, because we got to really dive into the investigation and discover some background story about Andoran. The scenario doesn't presume too much player foreknowledge. As a GM, there are plenty of helpful NPCs available that can fill in some of the blanks, that goes pretty naturally in the scenario.

4/5

claudekennilol wrote:

Reading the intro to the disappeared makes me think this might not be the right scenario.

It seems like there's probably too much lore for new pathfinders to appreciate. Also there's a lot of mechanical stuff that new players wouldn't be aware are options. And I don't want the "time sensitive" part to appear to be stressful for people that don't yet know how to play.

I'll take a look over Library of the Lion and see how that one feels.

Library of the Lion is another timed one, so that might not be a good plan.

Horn of Aroden is "go find the runaway noble and convince him to come home". Night March is "find out what the sleepwalker is up to and don't let him kill himself." Neither has a time crunch or any additional mechanics.

Grand Lodge 2/5

Dorothy Lindman wrote:
claudekennilol wrote:

Reading the intro to the disappeared makes me think this might not be the right scenario.

It seems like there's probably too much lore for new pathfinders to appreciate. Also there's a lot of mechanical stuff that new players wouldn't be aware are options. And I don't want the "time sensitive" part to appear to be stressful for people that don't yet know how to play.

I'll take a look over Library of the Lion and see how that one feels.

Library of the Lion is another timed one, so that might not be a good plan.

Horn of Aroden is "go find the runaway noble and convince him to come home". Night March is "find out what the sleepwalker is up to and don't let him kill himself." Neither has a time crunch or any additional mechanics.

I've already read through Night March of Kalkamedes and it has way too much combat for what I want. If Library of the Lion is also timed, then I'll look at The Stolen Heir. I'll look into Horn of Aroden next if that one doesn't work out.

Scarab Sages 3/5

claudekennilol wrote:
Dorothy Lindman wrote:
claudekennilol wrote:

Reading the intro to the disappeared makes me think this might not be the right scenario.

It seems like there's probably too much lore for new pathfinders to appreciate. Also there's a lot of mechanical stuff that new players wouldn't be aware are options. And I don't want the "time sensitive" part to appear to be stressful for people that don't yet know how to play.

I'll take a look over Library of the Lion and see how that one feels.

Library of the Lion is another timed one, so that might not be a good plan.

Horn of Aroden is "go find the runaway noble and convince him to come home". Night March is "find out what the sleepwalker is up to and don't let him kill himself." Neither has a time crunch or any additional mechanics.

I've already read through Night March of Kalkamedes and it has way too much combat for what I want. If Library of the Lion is also timed, then I'll look at The Stolen Heir. I'll look into Horn of Aroden next if that one doesn't work out.

*blinks*

Night March has an avoidable combat, an optional combat, and one actual combat. You're going to be hard pressed to find less combat than that scenario, other than Library of the Lion in which all combat is avoidable.

4/5

I would add Red Harvest to the list, for what it's worth. It's a 7-11, so probably not good for this application. :p

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

Regarding the combats in Night March...

Spoiler:

1) the bear - this isn't a very hard combat, and it's avoidable if you can steer Kalkamedes in a different direction.

2) the bandits - this combat could've been serious. When I ran it, the pregen druid dropped an Entangle and after that the party picked off the bandits at their leisure. That did eat up quite bit of time though.

3) the skunks - skipped due to time constraints.

4) the "dragon" - went down in 2 rounds due to freakishly dangerous gnomish pyro-sorcerer (level 1). I'd expected it to last 3-4 rounds. It's a fairly wussy dragon.

All in all the combats were NOT the challenge. The swimming and climbing parts were actually the hardest. Pregen Merisiel was the last down the cliff, and the party was low on rope, so this was kinda risky. Swimming Kalkamedes across the bog was also somewhat difficult, especially since feeding HIM the elixir didn't help at all.

Silver Crusade

Everyone should play Night March of Kalkamedes.

Scarab Sages

Library of the Lion for sure. Indeed a bear to prepare. And yes I have a envelop with all the handouts as well. :)

I LOVE roleplaying a certain NPC

Library of the Lion:
The guardian, deep voice, polite, yet a little playful and with a temper if approached with disrespect. Great character. I GMed a level 1 warpriest that is now almost able to get the actual Glorymane shield at level 8 or 9 or so.

Shadow Lodge 1/5

Sniggevert wrote:


It has a complicated tracking system you need to be prepared for, but 5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade is very investigative heavy (with strong rails).

Have run this four times and played. Seemed it was only as railroady as the GM made it feel. I had one party go totally off the rails (as in alchemist bombs outside the sheriffs house on the second day) but I had some very different outcomes even on the rails. For example--

:
One party totally despised Erika, because of low social roles and the presence of Tieflings (She basically used the equivilent of the N word to their faces after a -1 total when neg cha penalties were applied on the initial diplomacy check) while in another party a PC ended up in her bed. One party became great friends with the half orc/half elf couple as in, cooking them dinner. In an one "on the street" encounter, they met children playing "Crusaders and Pathfinders" and one of the kids who gave them a rumor. She became an important NPC because the characters sort of took a shine to her, i.e. hiring her to deliver messages etc. Since the 3rd murder victim is not even named or described, I decided they would be her widowed mother and younger brother. The Paladin ended up an adopted parent who intends to buy the squire boon.

Basically, one of the really good things about this scenario is a that a lot of details, like the murder victims identities, who is who etc is not spelled out. This allows you to fill in a lot of color without breaking run as written. Since it is very sandboxy, this also leaves a lot of room for creative/tactics solutions.

And that last "not spelled out" part is also what makes some GMs uncomfortable. But it can be made a lot of fun.

Hope this was helpful,

Silver Crusade 3/5

Yeah, Scars of the Third Crusade has only one combat that will happen no matter what. And it's an easy one. All the others really depend on how well the party is able to conduct themselves during the investigation.

I'd recommend that one.

Too bad Blackros Matrimony is tier 3-7, it would have been a good option otherwise.

5/5

Kerney wrote:
Sniggevert wrote:


It has a complicated tracking system you need to be prepared for, but 5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade is very investigative heavy (with strong rails).

Have run this four times and played. Seemed it was only as railroady as the GM made it feel. I had one party go totally off the rails (as in alchemist bombs outside the sheriffs house on the second day) but I had some very different outcomes even on the rails. For example--

** spoiler omitted **

Basically, one of the really good things about this scenario is a that a lot of details, like the murder victims identities, who is who etc is not spelled out. This allows you to fill in a lot of color without breaking run as written. Since it is very sandboxy, this also leaves a lot of room for creative/tactics solutions.

And that last "not spelled out" part is also what makes some GMs uncomfortable. But it can be made a lot of fun.

Hope this was helpful,

Sounds like you had a blast with it...I greatly enjoyed it too, and ran a bit long on it due to the interactions.

By the strong rails bit, I didn't mean they necessarily showed through to the players, but it was there for the GM. The mechanism to keep the train advancing down the track no matter what the PC's do can be quite helpful in keeping things on time in RL, as otherwise I would have been WAY over slot time on this one. The PC's can alter the speed down the tracks with their actions...but not the final destination in the long run.

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