An adventure for 3rd-level Pathfinder Roleplaying Game characters.
Cult of Personality
Razmir the Living God used his power to conquer an entire country; now he and his mask-wearing priests enforce peace and generosity—though some say their tools are intimidation and fear. His worshipers preach charity and self-worth, blaming rival faiths for crafting lies about the glories of the Living God. Now the cult has come to the city of Tamran, feeding the poor and promising happiness to those who serve Razmir. Yet ugly rumors persist of bribery, extortion, and strange disappearances associated with the new temple. Are these stories just gossip and lies spread by rival faiths? Or is the church of the Living God more than it seems?
Masks of the Living God is a adventure for 3rd-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG. This city-based adventure involves infiltrating a fortified temple and exposing the evil deeds of its cultists.
This adventure is set in the wooded land of Nirmathas in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but can easily be adapted for any game world. It can be used as a sequel to Crypt of the Everflame or as a stand-alone adventure, and is a prequel to the adventure City of Golden Death.
Written by Jason Bulmahn
Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder RPG 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.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60125-207-4
Masks of the Living God is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download (217 KB zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
Masks of the Living God is the second part of the “Price of Immortality” trilogy (along with Curse of the Everflame and City of Golden Death). The connection between the three parts is pretty small, however, so players won’t be disadvantaged with this middle adventure if they haven’t played the first part. Designed for third level characters, I ran it via play-by-post for Pathfinder Society credit.
There are two things I really like about the module. First, since the cover gives it away, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say the story involves the Church of Razmir. All Hail the Living God! The module was obviously written by a heretic and blasphemer as the Church is likened to a “cult” and accused of nefarious practices like thievery and protection schemes, but nonetheless I’m excited to see one of my favourite groups in Golarion get the spotlight. Second, speaking of spotlights, it’s a rare adventure that really allows sneaky characters to shine all the way through. Characters skilled in Bluff, Disguise, Stealth, and Sleight of Hand are far more valuable throughout most of the adventure than a pouncing barbarian would be. When you’ve played and run a lot of Pathfinder, it’s a breath of fresh air to see some other elements of gameplay come to the fore.
If I have one knock against the module, it’s the artwork. Although the cover is great, the interior artwork features a couple of pieces that are downright embarrassing: most importantly, the “boss” of the module looks laughably distorted in height. The new creature introduced in an appendix is also pretty silly looking. Most of the “cinematic art” of Iconics getting themselves in trouble is below par. Fortunately, the maps and a few headshots of key NPCs are fine.
I’d certainly recommend the module, especially for players who can be patient and GMs who can handle freeform-style reasonably well.
SPOILERS!:
Prior to the beginning of Crypt of the Everflame, a Razmiri priestess named Iramine stole two parts of a tripartite magical amulet from the eponymous tomb in the town of Kassen (awakening spirits and causing the trouble that led to the PCs being called in to help). Subsequently, again off-screen, Iramine gathered a large team of her fellow devotees of the Living God from the temple of Tamran in Nirmathas and set off on an expedition (that will terminate in City of Golden Death). The plot of Mask of the Living God involves the PCs infiltrating that temple in Tamran and learning of Iramine’s journey. In other words, the PCs are fated to always be one step behind until the end.
The module starts in Kassen (location of Crypt of the Everflame), where the PCs’ handler, Cygar, says he’s arranged a barge to take them to Tamran to continue following the cultists’ trail. I liked that the barge journey along the river and coast of Lake Encarthan isn’t hand-waved, and that there’s the possibility of random encounters (my PCs lucked out and the dice came in their favour) and one fixed encounter against Molthuni privateers. The dead of night ship-to-ship combat was set up well, even if one of the PCs (a classic nagaji bloodrager) wiped the floor with the foes.
Once in Tamran, the PCs meet up with their local Pathfinder contact, a man named Reginar Lacklan. Reginar confirms that a group of Razmirans returned from Kassen some days previously. He says the Temple of Razmir in the city is protected like a fortress, and that it has influence with several local city guards. This all points to a frontal attack or break-in as impractical. Instead, Reginar suggests the PCs infiltrate the cult by being inducted as initiate members! If they agree, Reginar makes a plan to meet the group a week later to find out what they’ve learned about the stolen amulet parts. He’s also keen for them to gather proof of the cult’s illegal activities in Tamran so he can get the authorities to shut it down.
The heart of the module is the PCs’ experiences as undercover initiates in the cult. After being drugged (or beaten) to unconsciousness at a recruitment meeting, the PCs will wake up stripped of all their gear in a basement cell. After 24 hours without food, their indoctrination begins. The module does a great job detailing a daily routine designed to lower initiates’ emotional resilience and willpower as part of a somewhat realistic portrayal of brainwashing. The smallest rules infractions can be punished severely, all at the whim of someone higher in the hierarchy. But at night, when the other initiates are asleep, the PCs have a chance to sneak around and start learning the secrets of the temple--and there’s plenty of danger and surprises to be found. I particularly liked the classic “stairs turn into a slide” trap that leads to a giant snake in the basement!
Some key NPCs help flesh out the time in the temple. Most notably, there’s the cruel but intelligent Egarthis (the leader of the temple while Iramine is away), a bully and bruiser named Krant (the master of the initiates), and a fellow new recruit named Evlar (who might be an ally or a foe depending on how the PCs interact with him). I wouldn’t have minded a couple of other NPCs to work with (drawn from other levels of the temple hierarchy), but overall I thought this aspect was handled well.
An important part of the PCs’ time in the temple (apart from the daily grind designed to wear them down) is special events that the GM can insert at times they feel suitable. There’s a crude bloodsport for Krant’s personal entertainment, the shakedown of a local baker for protection money (will the PCs go through with it or find an alternative?), and expected participation in a Temple-led pickpocketing ring (again a moral dilemma). The events are a really good way to add some drama to the PCs’ stay in the temple, and again a couple of more would have been really good as seven days of lying low and being sneaky is a long time for players used to dungeon crawls and straightforward solutions.
At the end of their week, the PCs need to figure out how to escape the temple to keep their planned meeting with Reginar. Assuming they do, he tells them it’s time to take a bigger risk. They need to slip back into the temple and breach Iramine’s private quarters on the strictly-forbidden second floor of the temple. This doubtless leads to some combats against Egarthis, a “mask golem” (the silly-looking new monster I mentioned earlier), and potentially pretty-much the entire congregation (depending on how quickly and cleverly PCs move). I didn’t actually pursue this part in my run, as the PCs had left incriminating clues about themselves during their escape from the temple--killing Krant and abducting Evlar just for a start--and I believed Reginar would surely know it would be suicidally foolish to send them back, plus, in real-life there were some interpersonal issues between a couple of the players that made it seem wise to start wrapping things up. The written conclusion has the temple being razed to the ground by the Nirmathas authorities, the Church of Razmir outlawed in the country, and the Pathfinders discovering Iramine’s destination: the “City of Golden Death”!
The freeform nature of the module made it a really fun experience to run. It’s always exciting to see just how far the PCs can be pushed before they start pushing back (and giving themselves away), and the tension of having to stay undercover for so long (and the consequences if their deception is discovered) worked great. I can safely say it’s unlike any other Pathfinder adventure I’ve ever played or run, and it’s an excellent example of the type of stories the system can handle if the writer thinks outside the box of “encounter-encounter-encounter” a little.
According to the holy words of divine Razmir, there are 39 steps to wealth and glory. Take the first step now by experiencing Masks of the Living God today!
My previous review got eaten or misplaced. Since that bothers me, Il'l just give a brief summary of my opinion this time around.
This module consists of two distinct parts. The first part focuses on infiltrating a cult and blending in. It requires a lot of roleplaying, which given the tasks and potential punishments is extremely fun to do. The second portion is all about escaping, shedding blood and taking revenge. After being tormented and possibly brainwashed, that’s a nice change of pace and, at some points, was rather challenging.
Overall this was a highly successful and fun module, something I hope to see more of in the future.
This is what I call a fake linear adventure. That is not a bad thing in the right hands. To get the true taste of the adventure the DM needs to make sure the players fall into line wirh what is going on.
If players fight it very hard, or the dm ignores possible options it can take a great deal from the adventure.
Once you are on the advenutre train there are many many many side trips that can have little effects on the game later, and that is awesome.
This is a great adventure too get the PCs to really roleplay their characters and get into their emotions. A decent DM can push buttons on PCs and then give them the opportunity to strike back against that.
A nice 2nd offering in a short newbie-friendly campaign.
I ran this as a sequel to Crypt of the Everflame in my first campaign as a DM, and I found it to be a mice step up from the first. While I quite liked the first module, I found the adventure to be a bit easy and the dungeon to be not that fun to explore. This one, however, was a lot better. Introducing new players to the idea of thinking laterally instead of brute force "BREAK DOWN THE DOOR AND KILL EVERYTHING!" is important, and the module does that quite well.It even has some interesting stuff going on with stealth and potential sabotage. Plus, unlike the first, there's a decent bit of challenge. My only real complaints come down to the setup of the module if it's being used as a sequel to CotE. To be honest, the connection between the two is kind of loose. As a DM it's probably in your best interest to rewrite the connection a bit to make it stronger. The other issue is convincing players to get on the boat to get to the city, which some of my players were against doing. Other than that, I highly recommend it, for both teaching new players and teaching yourself to be a DM.
Will there be a flip mat for this adventure like there was for Crypt of the Everflame?
Nope; we have no plans to make a flip mat of this adventure's locations, mostly because there's too many different locations to make into a single flip mat.
Just bought Crypt of the Everflame and love it. Wanting to start a campaign with it, but November is TOOO LOOOOONNNGGG!!!! Can't you slip the printer a fiver or something?:)
So it seems that Crypt of the Everflame has proven a success, so the party will progress to Masks of the Living God (MotLG).
I have done a quick calculation and for a party of 6, they should earn XP to take them a little way into 2nd level. MotLG, however, is a 3rd level mod. I was sure I had read something about this and how one was advised to bridge the gap but have failed to find it - anyone know the answer?
If another Pathfinder Module was slotted in to get more XP but taking them beyond 3rd, would MotLG become drastically too easy or still be a good challenge?
There's a bit in the early part of MOTLG that says, "This is for 3rd-level characters, if your PCs aren't 3rd-level yet, here's a good place to add some random encounters to get them up to 3rd."
My group (coming from a string of bad experiences with a certain RPG currently on a version between 3.999 and 4.001) absolutely blew through Crypt of the Everflame - loving it the whole way, of course. We don't play often, once a week for about three hours at a time, but we're completely done with Crypt and thirsting for more to do. I am creating side quests, etc. to fill in the space between these modules, but...I guess my question is, is there commonly going to be months between module releases? I would have hoped that one would run into the next as seamlessly as possible, but I'll be lucky if they are only third level by the time December gets here.
My group (coming from a string of bad experiences with a certain RPG currently on a version between 3.999 and 4.001) absolutely blew through Crypt of the Everflame - loving it the whole way, of course. We don't play often, once a week for about three hours at a time, but we're completely done with Crypt and thirsting for more to do. I am creating side quests, etc. to fill in the space between these modules, but...I guess my question is, is there commonly going to be months between module releases? I would have hoped that one would run into the next as seamlessly as possible, but I'll be lucky if they are only third level by the time December gets here.
Pathfinder Modules are on a bimonthly release schedule.
My group (coming from a string of bad experiences with a certain RPG currently on a version between 3.999 and 4.001) absolutely blew through Crypt of the Everflame - loving it the whole way, of course. We don't play often, once a week for about three hours at a time, but we're completely done with Crypt and thirsting for more to do. I am creating side quests, etc. to fill in the space between these modules, but...I guess my question is, is there commonly going to be months between module releases? I would have hoped that one would run into the next as seamlessly as possible, but I'll be lucky if they are only third level by the time December gets here.
Pathfinder Modules are on a bimonthly release schedule.
My group (coming from a string of bad experiences with a certain RPG currently on a version between 3.999 and 4.001) absolutely blew through Crypt of the Everflame - loving it the whole way, of course. We don't play often, once a week for about three hours at a time, but we're completely done with Crypt and thirsting for more to do. I am creating side quests, etc. to fill in the space between these modules, but...I guess my question is, is there commonly going to be months between module releases? I would have hoped that one would run into the next as seamlessly as possible, but I'll be lucky if they are only third level by the time December gets here.
Pathfinder Modules are on a bimonthly release schedule.
I have my party on the slow XP progression just so that I can use more of the non-AP modules in the Adventure Paths. (I'm starting them on Into the Haunted Woods before tossing them into ROTR...)
Though, now I might want to take them to Crypt of the Everflame as well...
At first glance, some of the encounter maps in the adventure are pretty close to some of the buildings in Flip Mat: City Market, so that is doable. The Razmiran temple, however, is quite customized and I don't think there's anything like it on any of the flip mats.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
I'm a bit confused about the background of this adventure. From the description, it seems that not many years have passed since Iramine was separated from Kassen and Asar, but according to the introduction of Crypt of the Everflame, Kassen died in 4535.
I think the unclearness comes from the use of "soon after," which could be interpreted as "soon after the adventurers split the key, Iramine heard that..." but you should interpret it as "soon after Iramine's superiors tasked her with retrieving the parts of the key, Iramine heard that...." If I had the option, I would rewrite that sentence because it presents the weirdness you're talking about.
Keep in mind that Razmir didn't found his country until 4661, so over 100 years passed between Kassen's death and the creation of the cult of Razmir, and thus Iramine could not have told senior Razmiran priests anything about the city (because the cult didn't exist yet).
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Thanks for the clarification. Part of confusion was also due to the fact that the sentence continues with "Iramine learned that her past associates were both dead,...". and in the present year, it's obvious that both men would be dead.
Now I understand that the meaning is that Iramine learned that Kassen and Asar killed each other while fighting for the key (and thus she could surmise that their pieces might be buried with them).
I like the cult of Razmir as villains. From reading the module they seem to operate almost like a thieves guild with protection (tithing) rackets and so on and so forth.
As I looked through all of the NPCs I noticed there wasn’t a single cleric.
I have one thought. Wouldn’t a lack of clerical magic be a tip off to people that something wasn’t quite right with the cult of Razmir? What are your thoughts?
I like the cult of Razmir as villains. From reading the module they seem to operate almost like a thieves guild with protection (tithing) rackets and so on and so forth.
As I looked through all of the NPCs I noticed there wasn’t a single cleric.
I have one thought. Wouldn’t a lack of clerical magic be a tip off to people that something wasn’t quite right with the cult of Razmir? What are your thoughts?
Me and WanderingNephilim were having that same discussion the other day, after he purchased this mod. I love the idea of a thieves guild posing as a church, and was thinking for anytime they needed showy spells they could rely on good old fashioned Use Magic Device and Scrolls or wands. That's my take though, they probably are just faithful "acolytes" and the actual priests are busy or some such, or at least thats what theyd tell people.
Joshua Thank you. Hopefully i'll get the hang of putting text behind a spoiler button sooner then later.
Stewart, the use magic device could work as well. that sounds like a good idea.
Sean, that sounds like a good idea, thanks for taking the time to answer my post. I will go look up that little something in gods and magic, you have piqued my curiosity.
Do you have a suggestion on a good map to use for the city of Tamran?
There's nothing particularly unique about Tamran; you could use just about any small lakeside city's map--even of an Earth city. Or build one with Map Tiles or Flip Mats, if you have those.
Well, I took a bit of SKR's advice and created my own map for Tamran using Campaign Cartographer and based on some of the physical descriptions I found. I'm not the best with that program, so the map is kind of primitive, but if anyone else wants to use it, just let me know and I'll try to convert it to a jpeg or pdf and send it to you.
Well, I took a bit of SKR's advice and created my own map for Tamran using Campaign Cartographer and based on some of the physical descriptions I found. I'm not the best with that program, so the map is kind of primitive, but if anyone else wants to use it, just let me know and I'll try to convert it to a jpeg or pdf and send it to you.
Well, I took a bit of SKR's advice and created my own map for Tamran using Campaign Cartographer and based on some of the physical descriptions I found. I'm not the best with that program, so the map is kind of primitive, but if anyone else wants to use it, just let me know and I'll try to convert it to a jpeg or pdf and send it to you.
Can you post a link here?
I'll see what I can do, but I'll warn you now, my computer-fu is not as strong as some folks around here. Either way, it'll have to wait until later this evening when I'm home.
I'll see what I can do, but I'll warn you now, my computer-fu is not as strong as some folks around here. Either way, it'll have to wait until later this evening when I'm home.
AZ, did you ever get around to uploading that map? I'd be interested in seeing what you've started. I, too, have Campaign Cartographer, and I might be able to add to your work. If you're interested, you can send the file to me at
e-mail:
paris.crenshaw@gmail.com
I'm about ready to start running Masks of the Living God, myself. My group loved Crypt of the Everflame and we're looking forward to heading off to Tamran.
One thing, though...does anyone have any good images of Razmiran cultists, or know where I might find some? The ones in the module are okay, but I'm looking for something I can use for counters and there aren't many options in the book.
Yep. See this thread for the technical discussion of the rig. I'm projecting onto reflective cardboard cut-out thing I bought from home depot (couldn't find it searching their site...sorry), which I wipe down with water and soap every couple of months.
Thanks for the information. I'm an AV guy by trade, most of the idea and equipment is something I've mapped out. But I was wondering about surface. I had tested it out with A matted table cloth, but short of taping it it isn't very permanent. So, thanks for the info.
So when is Razmir going to bring in the Celebrity endorsements..like from a short permanently grinning actor/bard..not that the Cult of Razmir is in anyway connected to certain real world cults off course..
So when is Razmir going to bring in the Celebrity endorsements..like from a short permanently grinning actor/bard..not that the Cult of Razmir is in anyway connected to certain real world cults off course..
We take great offense at being compared to a man with an enormous schnozz. Don't you see the masks?