Jason S's page

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.

In terms of quality, this is the best set yet.

- All humanoids (even the commons!) are as good or better than rare minis of prior sets. Their faces were especially good.

- The dungeon dressing was extremely well done in terms of both sculpt and paint. (Rope Trick, Book of the Damned). Most importantly, the book and pillar will be used!

- Minor gripe, the Invisible Guardian should have been made of clear plastic. Instead he looks like an elemental. I liked that it was common though and wished the bearded devil was common.

- The clockwork dragon and spawn were too specific for me to bother purchasing.

Great work, I look forward to the next set.

Twisted is a mix of investigation and roleplay.

Before I go any further, I want to say:
1) The scenario, as written, didn’t allow most PC groups to learn the story. Which is why we have the poor reviews.
2) There were too many red herrings and because the PCs might not know anything, it can waste time and be frustrating.
3) My GM probably didn’t play everything by the book and he helped guide us away from the red herrings. As a result it lead to an extremely memorable story, a 5 star story.

Twisted has one of the best stories, NPCs, and environment in a scenario I’ve seen. It was extremely memorable, especially RUBARI.

PFS editors, you don’t need to waste your time putting so many boons or so much special gear into the chronicles. I really feel you’re overdoing it lately. It’s not just in this chronicle, it's a trend. A scenario isn’t good or bad based on how many unique potions, scrolls, or wands I can purchase. A few things are fine, but lately I can barely put any (regular) purchases onto my chronicle. I feel like your time would be spent better actually editing the scenarios, so a good idea doesn't turn out like this scenario did.

The conclusion to the story was a letdown but it didn't ruin the journey getting there.

Wardens is a mix of combat and investigation, and a few skill challenges.

Wardens has an exceptional story with a great theme and environment. Fun NPC. I believe that the scenario is so strong, even a GM who can’t roleplay can’t mess it up too badly. It’s worth noting that I hate tech and still thought this scenario was great.

There was a fun decision to make at the end.

The only criticism of the scenario is that the combats were a little too weak, but it didn’t matter. Also, we skipped some encounters, didn't roleplay as much as we could, and it still went long.

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

The roleplay at the start was one of the most painful and awkward RPG experiences I’ve had. “Make friends with Y”. Ughh. It was so awkward, unfun, and delved into painful roleplaying conversations that actually involved date rape drugs at one point. Sigh. It's enough to turn anyone off of RPGs, lol.

The rest wasn’t very exciting. I skipped most of season 6 and I have to say, I hate tech. Hate tech. Hate hate hate. Did I mention I hate tech? Please, season 6 is done, no more, save that s*** for Starfinder.

There was basically one combat encounter in the entire scenario, you had time to prepare for it, and for us it wasn’t challenging at all, it was over in 2 rounds with almost no damage taken. Our healer was bored to tears.

Peril is a mix of combat and investigation (if you call following non-logical clues from location to location investigation).

There are two main problems with Peril. First, not much happens in the scenario, and it doesn’t happen fast.

And then there's the story. The story is not conveyed well to the players, I had to ask my GM the story at the end. Even worse, once you hear the story it makes absolutely no sense and it’s just a bunch of contrived coincidences.

The investigation doesn’t leave the players anything to figure out, everything is solved by skill checks. No meaningful choices.

And last, none of the challenges were fun. The last encounter was long, but not in an enjoyable way. A very forgettable scenario. My GM didn’t have harrow cards so maybe that changed the experience, but I doubt it.

Abducted is a mix of roleplay, skill challenges, and combat.

Abducted was a terrific wrapup to the season 7 story arc. The locale was exotic and interesting, the NPCs were fascinating (that hopefully make a return one day), cool trinkets, great story, and flavorful combats. And it fits into a 4 hour time slot. You couldn’t really ask for anything more.

The only bad part is we didn’t interact with the Aspis agent very much, didn’t learn her story. Also, I still have no idea why the end boss wanted the mcguffin. So the entire story wasn’t conveyed.

Ungrounded is a mix of skill challenges, roleplay, and combat.

Ungrounded is basically a boot camp. Your PCs are going to be unfairly intimidated, harassed, yelled at, and maybe more. I found humor in it and played up to it, but others might not.

I think this scenario is ideal for level 1-2 because you’re still a novice and training. If my PC was level 4-5, I would have disliked this scenario.

Having said that, all aspects of this scenario were good. Unlike other reviewers, I felt there was a lot of flavor in this location (GM fluff?).

I just read Amanda's review and I have to say, we the players were clueless. I'm just glad the GM didn't penalize us because it could have easily spoiled the game.

Hold is a combat based scenario.

Hold is really hard to rate since we only got through the first 1/2 of the scenario. We never even got to the good parts of the scenario, the scenario is too long. Part of the problem was party size (4) and the fact that 2 of the players didn’t really know their characters, but still I felt the length of this scenario was a problem in a 4 hour slot.

Maybe I'll replay this scenario one day with a better group, a faster GM, and more time.

Overall: I wish one of the 1st two encounters were dropped so we could get to the good parts. (5/10)

Thralls is a mix of problem solving and combat.

Thralls is basically a series of puzzle rooms. And I like puzzle rooms. They were easy and I think most people would enjoy them.

Unfortunately, I felt the story was somewhat lost. Also, the location didn’t seem to be a factor. The main NPC was only OK. Sigh.

The end encounter was a little bit of a letdown, but perhaps we did everything too well.

Stranger is a mix of investigation, problem solving, combat, and roleplay.

The premise of the scenario is an investigation, but the investigation portion is railroaded and all of the clues are hand fed to you.

Having said that, each encounter is a sandbox and are open to creative solutions to solve them. In general the encounters were interesting and enjoyable.

Anguish is yet another research, investigation, and combat based scenario in season 7.

The research section of Anguish was much improved from previous scenarios. A story was told as we progressed. The design (numerically) had us on the edge of our seats and we barely made it. Having handouts provided by scenario made this section understandable and run at a good pace.

The first encounter was also well designed and cinematic, without taking too much time.

The big boss fight was somewhat underwhelming and was easily defeated using tier 1-5 tactics, which is just not good enough for subtier 10-11.

There was also a moral decision at the end which was interesting. The unfortunate part is that it adds to the word count without adding anything to the scenario.

Shadows is a horror and combat scenario with a mix of roleplaying and investigation as well.

Without exception, Shadows has the best atmosphere ever created in a PFS scenario. The entire session drips with flavor and the environment (if done right) should make the players very tentative. Nice work. For this reason it is one of the most memorable scenarios I’ve played.

We had an easy time with the encounters (especially the final encounter), so the encounters were only medium difficulty.

The only downside to this scenario is that you need to be thorough to gain all the loot (which is the main reason for the 1 star reviews). If the writing was poor, my GM smoothed it over and made it a great experience.

Refuge is a short combat based scenario with the most powerful boon PFS has ever offered.

The start of Refuge placed us against a unique foe and we weren't sure if we were going to TPK. It was also the best part of the scenario. Having said that, the guardian wasn’t protected enough.

The other encounters were fairly standard. The environment had very little to offer in terms of story or interest. The last encounter was poorly designed, especially the tactics.

Ransom is a puzzle based scenario that also has some challenging combats and a fun negotiation. It reminded me a bit of an Indian Jones movie.

Ransom is really hard to rate because the riddles in this scenario are extremely well designed, fairly easy, can be interpreted more than one way. Having said that, 4 out of 6 players in this scenario were entirely disengaged, not listening, and didn’t even *try* to solve the puzzles for at least 1 hour of the scenario. Can you truly call this a 5-star scenario in this case?

GMs... you need handouts for this scenario... otherwise players will be asking you again and again to read the riddles. Also for some of us it’s a lot easier to read the riddle itself rather than hear it orally. (I also missed entire clues when I took a bathroom break, which was a problem since I solved all the puzzles and was missing a major clue for one of them).

Prior reviews lead me to believe that this scenario was deadly, but it’s not. Back in season 2 this was deadly, in season 7, slightly harder than average (for us it was easy).

Entanglement is a combat based scenario with several extremely challenging and interesting combats.

After an entire convention of not being challenged in combat at all (over in 1-2 rounds), this scenario took us to our limits (and almost beyond, we were completely out of resources/spells/etc). The combats were extremely tough (but fair) and this scenario would be good for most convention characters that I've seen. This scenario however is not for casual characters/players.

The encounters themselves were masterfully crafted environments, opponents, tactics, and used monsters that are rarely or ever seen. Costello is a master of designing encounters. Nice work. In the hands of a great GM, the encounters really come to life. All of our encounters went 5-10 rounds.

There were also a few short roleplay moments and a hilarious NPC. The ending had an interesting moral decision that can change the difficulty of the last encounter.

I really enjoyed this scenario and it was the perfect way to end the convention.

Rise is an awesome mix of roleplay, investigation, and combat using some excellent evil pregen characters that have very interesting back stories, motivations, and side missions.

If you've ever wanted revenge on Pathfinder society NPCs, this is the scenario to do it.

Players should arrive early to read the fluff and mechanics of their pregen.

Karma is a challenging combat based scenario with a horror theme.

I thought the encounters were extremely well designed and unique. The setting was evocative and dripping with a nasty horror theme.

The only downside is that we took 5.5 hours and we didn't finish the last encounter. Having said that I think that was partially because one encounter lasted an hour (GM cheated) and the party was weak.

The ally in the last encounter needed to have flexible powers because as written, she didn't help at all. But the thought and imagery were certainly cool.

Karma can get deadly, especially if you don't play part 1. Then again part 1 is deadly. /shrug

This is weird to say, but I consider this mini representative of how well Paizo and WizKids have perfected the mini making process. They could have just mailed this mini in and created something average, but they just nailed this mini. It's one of the best minis I own. In general the value of the minis in this set are exceptional. I hope this continues.

There are some complaints about the tentacle hand but it's part of the original artwork, so the mini making can't be blamed.

I look forward to the next set.

I like oversized minis and this is the first time where I've felt that a large mini was too big.

Owlbears are not that powerful or big (8' tall), and this mini is larger than all of my other large base minis, including my giants (12-16 feet) and iron golems (12'). The only large mini that is the same size is the Sandpoint Devil. And beaky is by far the heaviest large mini, equal or heavier than my huge minis.

I liked everything else about this mini, the size is just too large. Beaky should have been the size of the ogres or perhaps the fire giant.

This mini is a work of art. There are so many details that make this mini great, the use of translucent plastic was brilliant. Much better than the stock image.

I was hesitant to buy these minis since I didn't like the pictures (and white dragons aren't my favorite), but it turns out the minis look better than the pictures.

These dragons are so beautiful, I'd have no problem using them for any color of dragon.

These are great minis to look at and to have at the table. Great value as well.

Looks like the stock image, with details you'd find in a $10 mini.

The face was very disappointing in this mini, not like the stock image. Quality was like a $4 mini, not a $9. The bow and arrow were exceptionally bent.