Missing Persons is an investigation scenario with combat and a little roleplay.

The investigation portion of the story was very boring. The storyline about the Grey Gardener who didn’t wear a mask was a complete waste of time (as we uncovered the story in The Fury of the Final Blade).

Then there is an unexpected and hilarious twist at the end. But then nothing is really done with the twist and it’s short lived.

Lodge is a scenario with combat, investigation, and a little puzzle and roleplay.

I found Lodge to be extremely overrated. Sure, there is 5 minutes of roleplay with Valais at the start. Sure, a witty puzzle. And the end had a little twist.

Having said that, it wasn’t that entertaining.

Salvation is an epic scenario with combat, puzzles, and some roleplay.

THIS is why we roleplay! For stories like this! Matt Duval, thank you!

The only fault with this scenario is that it was too long. We ran out of time (at 5 hours). The only way you don’t run out of time is if the GM and players are prepared and aren't slow. Also, for some reason the scenario asks you to look through your chronicles for XYZ (how many choices have you made for boons?) so we spent 30 minutes doing that, and these stats were never used. We could have used that time.

Disclaimer: If players aren’t going to be smart about this one you’d better bring optimized PCs. There is the very real threat of death in this scenario. My group failed.

Dalsine is a mix of combat, some sandbox, and a little roleplay.

The Dalsine story is not very good. The combat encounters in this scenario are also highly overrated. Compared to recent scenarios, Dalsine is quite boring and not innovative. It hasn’t aged well.

The big bad guy is very overrated as well. Sure, at subtier 1-2 there is a good chance he could 1 shot kill a level 1 character, which is where this scenario gets it’s notorious reputation. At subtier 3-4, the BBG did hit for 50% of my pets hit points and then died before he could act again. The surprise was that he didn’t last 1 round.

To top it off, the story, which revolves around the Shadow Lodge, doesn’t make sense anymore.

Dalsine was very disappointing.

Overall: I’d avoid Dalsine, there are better scenarios to play. (4/10)

Phantom is a horror scenario with a mix of investigation, combat, puzzles, and a little roleplay.

Phantom is a really great introduction to Pathfinder. I used it with my 7-year-old daughter and her friends to introduce them to RPGs. They watch Scooby Doo and Ghostbusters, so they were OK with the themes in the scenario.

It had a great horror vibe that could be expanded upon, and I did!

I also loved the quest format for my kids, because we started with only 1 hour at a time. I think it also suites teaching beginners the game at conventions, since people can just jump in and out.

There are a lot of good things about Phantom, but there are several problems as well. I didn’t like that you had to play all 6 quests to get the same rewards as playing a regular scenario. Each quest can easily take an hour. I’ve finished some regular scenarios in 1.5 hours, why would a quest take 6 hours for the same reward? In the future they should consider giving a full XP and gold rewards with only 3-4 quests accomplished.

While I thought the scenario was very strong, it has the following problems which lead to it not being used. I believe these faults are now fixed in scenarios like House of Harmonious Wisdom:
1) To legally play it, it says you need to play pregens. This is bad idea, any 1st level character should be able to play it.
2) It takes 6 hours to fully complete. The target time should have been 4 hours or less, like other scenarios.
3) If you spend 4 hours, you do not get the rewards you’d get from playing a non-quest scenario.
4) Two encounters can TPK the party, which is an extremely bad experience for a demo.

All of the quests are good, but Mansion is the best.

What a shame. If you do find yourself starting a new character, consider playing this scenario.

Birthright is an equal mix of roleplay, skill checks, combat and investigation.

I have a problem with the Sovereign Court part of this scenario. Just because you disagree with the King, doesn’t mean it's OK to manipulate the senate, through any means, to achieve your goals and what you think is right. Second, it is treason. Third, if I had a PC playing this, I’d want to turn report Lady Morilla.

Please consider that many SC PCs are ex-Taldor and are also Lion Blades, dedicated to protecting the King, and Lady Morilla's goals are treasonous.

The editing and design in this scenario in this story were poorly done.

The roleplay and NPCs in this scenario are quite good. The painting was nice too. They had personality, they were fun, they were well done.

The encounters were also well done, with the exception of the end. This was however, an easy scenario both in terms of combat and skill checks.

The scenario is too long. It took us 4.5 hours and we skipped all of section "C".

Heaven is a roleplay scenario with a heavy amount of skill checks. There is hardly any traditional combat.

Heaven does a lot of things right:
1) Continues the storyline of Valais, who is a very likeable and fun NPC.
2) It’s a roleplay scenario.
3) Some really unique encounters, unique places, and an exotic environment, all of which are done well.
4) Unique and interesting NPCs.

Heaven does lots of things wrong:
1) The pacing of it is very bad. There is a lot of information for the GM to convey at the start and then more roleplay and skill checks afterwards. It starts slow.
2) Although this is a roleplay scenario, it’s the GM that spends most of the time talking. It’s a weird problem to have, but there were too many interesting and weird NPCs who all deserved a little bit of air time, and they all had information to convey. And that time adds up, to the point where the GM is mostly storytelling (so I hope your GM is a good storyteller). Sure it’s fun to talk as Valais, but then there is Kitario, Peligos, Zepha, Akarah, Altha, Skuroth, Ammoch, Oneol, Laktharis, and the Hivetender of Andolleta. It was hard to give them the air time they needed and keep it interesting. I actually had very little time talking with Valais, as I had to move things along. It takes a good GM to pull it off well and a group receptive to roleplay.
3) The skill checks (especially after penalties) seem too high at subtier 4-5. My group (APL 2.5 with a level 5 ringer) failed at subtier 1-2, they had relevant secondary skills (and successfully completed most sections) and would have failed miserably at subtier 4-5.

Gods is mostly combat and exploration with some skill checks and a little investigation.

I can see why players are displeased with Gods. No one likes effects that reduce your stats, and this scenario features a non-core mechanic that makes it inevitable (which irritates players who invested feats to counter it). So you're either going into a deadly combat severely penalized or someone has the foresight to spend 2000+ gold to repair your stats.

This scenario had a lot of weak encounters in it that were not really satisfying. The main encounter is long and could be viewed as annoying by some players (if your stats are affected it makes it worse), but I thought it was the best part of this scenario.

This is the character sheet I've been using for years. You can do anything with it, there are no auto-calculations, and it's saveable. I have all iterations of my characters stored and premade before conventions. Highly recommended.

Blockade is mostly combat with a little investigation and roleplay.

I've played the previous Bloodcove scenarios and they were all great, memorable, so I always look forward to returning.

Unfortunately, this trip to Bloodcove was mundane. Impress this person, impress this person, yawn.

Being in Bloodcove didn't even seem dangerous. Are you wearing disguises? Yep. No roll needed.

I'm still unsure about the mechanics of the last encounter. Some hit points seem off.

The paint job in the product image is awful. But the paint on my mini is one of the best humanoids I own. I'm not sure why they're so inconsistent.

This mini had a good sculpt and was painted very well, excellent shading , looks great.

In a set that has the best quality we've seen so far, this sculpt and paint job stands out. I'm not sure when I'll use it, but it's awesome.

I recently gave this to my brother and his 7 year old kids, since he was unsure of whether his kids would like the game.

The box includes everything you need to start: An erasable flip mat, some paper minis for your characters and monsters, dice, a starting adventure, and easy rules.

It's really too bad this box wasn't promoted more in game shops and conventions, it's a cheap and easy way to get into Pathfinder.

I can't write a proper review since I don't own this set.

But I do own the case incentive. And I'm not a fan of the fire lord at all. There are no details to it, it's very plain and cheaply done. The fire elemental found Shattered Star was not perfect, but at least it wasn't washed out and didn't feel cheap.

I didn't buy a brick because I already have plenty of goblins, reptile humanoids (Legends of Golarion), halflings, zombies, ghosts, and minotaur. I like the rares however but can't justify buying a brick for a few.

From the commons to uncommons to rares, they have the best quality, a 5 star quality, to them. For example, a common like "Reclamation Squire" was painted as well as the iconic heroes sets. For that matter, every mini I received was done with that same care. Could not ask for better quality.

In terms of faces on humanoids, Crown is the best mini set so far. The faces on the commons were done better than many of the iconic heroes. It actually makes me wonder how my commons could look so good when in previous sets, the rares sometimes had disastrous faces. Even in iconic heroes, many of the faces were only "OK". Hopefully it's this good going forward, the bar is set high now.

Crown also filled out many missing pieces, like the devils, king, children, spiders, dogs, and of course, Red Mantis Assassins!

In 2 bricks there were no broken minis and the distribution was fantastic.

A great set IMO.

Serpent is a great mix of combat, roleplay, and strategy.

Like the other parts, the leadership aspect of Serpent played a huge role in this scenario and we got to interact more directly with the NPCs, which was great. Maybe it was my GM, but there was humor in the outcomes.

The storyline and NPCs we met were also beyond expectations. Most of the scenario was a sandbox.

There were great choices to make, interesting negotiations with various NPCs. And the entire thing was epic.

The decisions you make affect future seasons to come. You couldn’t really ask for anything more from a high-level scenario.

Beyond is mostly combat with a little roleplay and investigation.

Like part 1, Beyond doesn’t pull any punches and there are some truly horrible things that can happen to your PC, but like they say, death is only a condition at level 12+.

The encounters were well constructed and non-typical, interesting environments.

Again, I really liked the leadership aspect of the scenario, although it wasn’t as well done as parts 1 and 3.

There are nice plot points at the end, explaining the Aspis plot that has occurred over the last 2 seasons.

Although it was good, it was also the weakest of the 3 parts.

Scar was mostly combat with a small amount of roleplay and skill checks.

Scar starts off great. 5 stars. But then unfortunately diminishes as the event wears on.

I think Scar did a much better job as a special event than the last two specials. There was combat, but it didn’t completely dominate the scenario. And there was actually a story and time for it to be told.

Having said that, there were too many repetitious combats, and not enough time for them. It’s not a fault of the scenario per se, but event planners often don’t make enough time to finish the final encounter. By the time everyone moved down to the combat zone, the event was over and we barely got to attack once. Dissatisfying.

I still think the aid tokens can be simplified. The "boost" effect didn’t really come into play since we had so many subtiers. Does boosting in subtier 10-11 help subtier 1-2? That wasn’t really explained. Also, the aid "token" was several papers paperclipped together. Isn’t it possible to simplify it enough that all subtiers can fit on one page? Keep it simple, keep the aid useful and people will use it.

Although Scar is meant to be replayable, I’m not sure I have any intention of playing it again, even if 1/3 of it has changed.

Alabastrine is a pure roleplaying and skill-based scenario.

And it was a great experience. It was extremely similar to The Blakros Matrimony, in terms of setup and mechanics. You need a good roleplaying GM to make this shine because this scenario could easily vary from a 1 star experience to 5.

Some reviews have said that this scenario is more easily accomplished through Knowledge skills and that simply is not true (my character had only diplomacy and sense motive and did well). You can relate to almost every patron through Diplomacy, it’s just more difficult. By allowing skills other than diplomacy to be used on certain bidders, IT’S ALLOWING THE ENTIRE PARTY TO PARTICIPATE equally.

The history and city of Alabastrine also evoked the imagination. I wish the bidding was done in the city.

The environments also made for good roleplaying moments.

The only flaws in this scenario were:
1) I had 4 creative solutions and they were all ignored. Of course, you don’t want to break the scenario, but it would be nice if they had some effect. Maybe it was more of a flaw with the GM.

2) The NPCs didn’t have as much personality as The Blakros Matrimony. Most of the roleplaying “flare” came from the party environments rather than the personalities of the patrons.

3) Editing errors. The two hammers touching on the bridge was mentioned far too many times in the box text and became a running joke at the table.

4) I believe my GM adjusted the DCs of the skill checks down, that they were too high.

Reaping is a mix of roleplay, combat, and investigation.

The first thing I should mention is that it’s not scary. Not even Goosebumps scary. It's more of a comedy than anything with the cute NPCs.

My problem with Reaping is that there was nothing interesting or innovative in the scenario, and I didn’t learn anything new about Golarion. It was very basic, not even worth my limited gaming time.

And as others mentioned, the combat was extremely easy (no one took 1 point of damage and we had a very average group), but even if the combat was more challenging, it still wouldn’t fix the scenario.

The mission (asking forgiveness from a low-level informant) itself is beneath a Pathfinder at level 4-5. I think this scenario would have been more suited to be a level 1 evergreen scenario with variations.

Eternity is a combat scenario with some roleplaying and investigation mixed in.

The story in Eternity was befitting for high level play. I enjoyed learning about the different groups protecting the sun orchid elixirs and our tactics to protect multiple targets at the same time.

The combat challenges in Eternity were interesting and extremely well designed (the NPCs were built to challenge the PCs, not to roll over and die). The combat was tough but fair. But let’s face it, my PC almost died 4 times in this scenario alone when 150-200 points of damage is the penalty for failing a save, I was just lucky.

Some of the combats lasted 7-10 rounds and were extremely satisfying, but that says as much about the GM as it does the scenario, but at least the GM has the ability to challenge any group if he knows what he’s doing.

I don’t want to spoil it, but being a seeker, a boss, was very rewarding and I really enjoyed having the tables reversed. This aspect of all three scenarios was very rewarding and fun.

Eaters is a combat scenario with a good story and some roleplay.

Other scenarios have been labelled as “horror” scenarios but don’t do the job. Eaters is especially gross and disgusting (in a good way). And the encounters... terrifying.

There is no doubt that this scenario can be deadly, especially if the PCs are not tactical. It can be very swingy and things can go bad quickly. We (were not smart) and got lucky. Perhaps scenarios like this should be labelled "veteran" so more casual players don't get their PCs slaughtered?

Having said that, learning about the Gloomspires, the inhabitants, and the pirates was fun. The encounters were memorable and well designed. There were opportunities for good roleplay throughout. There was a fun choice to make at the end.

Captive is a combat based scenario with a few skill challenges.

Captive was encounter after encounter against elementals, and that’s not an exaggeration. Well, there is the odd undead or golem. For years the feedback has been there are too many generic combats in specials, but Captive just takes this to another level.

The two skill challenges allow for so many different kinds of skills to be used (even Diplomacy and Perception), they were meaningless and didn't make a lot of sense. It was just a roll off.

In terms of story, this special was the worst (by far) of any special I’ve done since Pathfinder was created. Very bland.

I wonder if Paizo realizes how many new players play specials, thinking that this is the best that Pathfinder has to offer when it’s really the worst that Pathfinder has to offer? Do you realize how many people you turn away from the game by having craptastic combat filled specials?

Sandstorm is a skill based scenario with some combat and roleplay.

The story and scenario experience is just not that interesting. You’ll spend most your time making climb, swim, fortitude, and fly checks. Too much of the scenario was spent making skill checks for boons and the secondary mission, telling a story that no one cared about.

Skill checks where the result doesn’t really matter are not fun. So what if it takes me 10 minutes of game time to climb up a cliff face or swim across a pool? There was no real chance of dying, it just wasted everyone’s gaming time. There are numerous examples of this in Sandstorm.

For GM preparation, this scenario took more time than average to prepare and it wasn’t a fun read. The boons, primary and secondary missions, and faction missions were not straight forward and easy to understand. Please, do not make boons like this, please remove boons altogether if I need to make notes just to understand what should and should not be included. In practice I’m sure most GMs will just give their players all of the boons (which is my experience in general).

There were a lot of details in this scenario, I’m sure that GMs will make mistakes (particularly in A3 where the dangerous effect should only be 1 round until a new save is made). For GMs there were a lot of rules that needed to be looked up.

There are several sections and details that are not relevant to the scenario (Ex. Dazzled, the design around the Sandstone Source, talking about tea, etc) and by including them, it wastes the players time and the GMs time when preparing the scenario. This scenario already runs long.

The final combat was too easy.

Some GMs will (incorrectly) force the players to make a choice at the end, which players dislike.

The scenario punishes the PCs if they aren't murder hobos in certain circumstances.