Every edition of an RPG has the solid adventures, the awful adventures, the forgettable adventures, and the adventures which get talked about even decades later.
Malevolence is dense, it's complex, it's incredibly challenging, but the story is so beautifully done that I'll be coming back to this one for years to come.
If you like mysteries, then this one of the best. The mystery is actually solvable. There are ways to give your players clues, and reveal more things to investigate without feeling contrived.
Our table really enjoyed the [REDACTED] encounter. You don't even fully TPK if you all die, so I'm not sure why everyone is so worried about their characters having some level of risk in a 3-6.
It is on the same level of 1-04 Bandits of Immenwood, and I think that high DCs can be quite feelbad, but it's certainly something you can overcome.
Very sweet adventure for all the new investigators coming onto the scene.
Also bonus points for Groetus since he's a fan fav. Being on the front cover did ruin a bit of the mystery because before we started one of my players said "The moon is actually a god, Groetus" and looked up and realised he was evil.
This plot reminds me of the OG 32-page modules in terms of how much story and content there is in this module.
Love that! 32-pagers were my favourite way to play PFS.
The problem is that the word-count and slot time limits mean you have to rush everything to get it all done, and then the combats feel quite disjointed as a result.
I ran this over 2 4.5 hour slots to try go the other way, and by doing there wasn't enough detail to be interesting, so it feels too packed but also not detailed enough to tackle either way.
This has a more "action movie" bent to the two-parter. The scenario always felt like there was a strong pace to it, and that while the group was powerful we'd just uncovered something beyond our capabilities.
As such when we were escaping the island there was a lot of tension, and a good use of infamy mechanics during the scenario.
Our group copped the infamy, and two of our 5 players have characters that behave significantly differently in roleplay as a result of this scenario.
This adventure is pivotal for 2-00 the King in Thorns, as well as being a packed story adventure with a new location and all the fun that comes with.
One of my fav parts is the:
Lore minigame:
The bonus for using opposite seasons when talking to NPCs is one of the coolest things I've seen for getting RP-lite players to engage in roleplay. LOVE IT.
Everyone should play this pair if you care about this year's plot
I didn't play this until June 2020. If I had played this on-release while trying to learn PF2 I would have had an awful time.
Pregens only, combined with monsters who severely limit the effectiveness of some of the pregens is an awful combo.
as an adventure it does a reasonable job of setting off the events of Year 1, although it does seem really random out of context.
I'm glad I did it towards the end of year 1 rather than at the beginning. It wouldn't have had a brain-drop moment that 1-00 was important if I did it first, and it wasn't a -00 scenario, noting it as special
The lore of this location is great. Love pretty much anything that is in Geb, which makes this quest a tad disappointing.
Travel all the way down the coast of Garund for... fruit? Couldn't they have sent someone local?
The fact that there were 2 guards + Zombies with no stats is problematic for our Iomedaens and other anti-undead folk, which are quite popular given that a very recent plotline has been an undead invasion.
The Flesh Golems with Elite adjustment are also very uninteresting as they can't berserk so they are just move -> FIST, repeat. Uninteresting.
Nothing really special to see here. Better than others in that the market vibe was cool. The combat in the end was largely uninteresting and that results in a middle rating.
Some folk love kobolds, particularly the Sewer dragons, so for them it'll be better.
I have no feelings good or bad about Kobolds, so my review is based on the quest itself.
By now the format of the quests is very known by players. Some skill checks, and then 1 combat. It means that the players were looking for the skill checks, and the combat, so there were no interesting surprises or lore tidbits to drop.
I much prefer quests (like Archaology in Aspenthar) which while they follow the format in the restrictive word total, you get one of these benefits:
* A unique combat we haven't seen in 2E yet (Q6
* Out there lore development or history (see Q2 and Q6)
* Other stand out item
Some folk like unique boons and that means they'll stick through a bad quest to get an unlockable. I think the content should speak for itself, boons are a bonus.
In the end, this adventure had nothing special, so gets a 2.
I enjoyed spending some time in Isger between #1-05 in PFS, Fall of Plaguestone, and this AP volume.
That said, Hellknight Hill feels like the most forced of the lot. It's paint by numbers to remind you that goblins are good now, bunch of combat so that you can try out 2E monsters, and sets up the rest of the AP.
I enjoyed playing through it as a completionist, but once more APs come out I think this intro won't compare to the newer entries.
this is 3.5 stars for me, but I'm a harsh critic. I *really* enjoyed playing this scenario, because the GM had a really strong way of evoking the exploration and travel.
As-written however, the boggard encounter is pretty bland, and overall it's just "go do some stuff for me Pathfinders, cheers!"
The final boss is very swingy depending on how ruthless the GM is.
Why it can be ruthless:
The final boss is a flying enemy, so can do Fly-attack-fly spring attack style to keep out of reach, and he has an extremely high AC with the scenario effect.
The format of: 1x Skill/diplomacy challenge + 1x combat for PF2 quests I've found leaves one to be desired. Either the skill challenge is tacked on, or the combat feels forced.
This one has both feeling great! There is some good lore, and reveals some developing relationships between pathfinders and the Osiriani government. It also just has a solid combat.
I really like the lore behind Grehunde's Gorget and the tie in Tarnbreaker's Trail, which makes it hard to give this a poor rating.
It could easily just be a 3-star, but when presenting it as a quest it feels a bit anticlimactic. The players are expecting something crazy, but you sort of just... take damage or don't when retriving the macguffin.
A little re-write and this could be great, so it's got an alright core.
I fleshed out the introduction a little more to give it a 2hr play slot since we were playing at home, but it's quite a unique little adventure.
I like that Paizo are toying with introducing characters, or "player wide unlocks" via chronicles in quests. I hope to see this continue, because it's quite fun to recommend players get on a table to get new unique options.
This scenario gets a 5* because it brings a lot of unique elements to the table
* An engaging non-combat based plot
* A system to strategise and solve the challenges
* Robust interconnected goals instead of 5 isolated challenges
* Tough, but fair combats
* A country we haven't seen yet in PF2
Every part of this scenario when I think about it has something interesting. The unique enemies have strong abilities which make your players engage with them. The X-Day to solve 5 problems plot is fun, with some curve balls. It forces the players to go back to different NPCs pretty much no matter who they start with, and each one gives them new tools to work with.
Finally: It was surprisingly easy to prepare. Some scenarios are very complex for the player complexity they give. This was very simple, and yet my players had a blast.
This just topped Flooded King's Court as my "want to spend GM-Replay boon to GM this scenario twice"
