 
Sign in to create or edit a product review. I didn't find this mini to be disappointing at all, especially for the price. Not sure what the other reviewer wants in a shadow demon, but I generally like them to be... black. :) Bloodcove is a sandbox investigation and roleplay based scenario. Depending on your choices, there could be hardly any combat. Bloodcove is very similar to Bloodcove Disguise. If you liked Bloodcove Disguise, you will like this scenario. There is nothing really bad to say about this scenario. Detailed Rating:
Length: Medium (4 hours). I think we skipped the optional combat but definitely took our time. Experience: Player at Subtier 6-7 with 6 good characters. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Relaxing, interesting, smart. (9/10) Story: Good story. (10/10) Roleplay: Solid roleplaying although it will be player driven. (8/10) Combat/Challenges: The challenges we had were on the easy side but enjoyable. (8/10) Maps: Lots of good maps, mostly flip maps. (8/10) Boons: If you're exchange, the boon is great. Nothing otherwise, which makes this hard to rate. (8/10) Uniqueness: PFS doesn't have a lot of sandboxes, so it was welcome. (8/10) Overall: If you like sandbox investigation scenarios, you will like this. A fun change of pace. Lines is a combat and investigation based scenario. Several reviewers have said the scenario feels too long and this would be especially true if your GM uses heavy roleplay for the introduction (instead of playing it as an introduction). My GM moved it along quickly. The introduction was unfortunately the best part of the scenario. I like strange and mysterious things to happen in scenarios, but the mystery in Lines felt annoying, grindy, and made the scenario feel long. Unfortunately, I think the weirdness is the main selling point of the scenario. Detailed Rating:
Length: Medium (Felt long at 3.5 hours. It's possible that we did the optional encounter). Experience: Player with 6 good PCs at subtier 4-5, some playing up. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Start was OK, then slogging through each room was grindy. (6/10) Story: The story was unknown for most of the scenario and irrelevant when we found out. (6/10) Roleplay: Very little and overdoing it is a mistake. (5/10) Combat/Challenges: I can imagine weirder things happening. The demon at the start was good. (6/10) Maps: So convoluted that my GM didn't even bother. I'm sure the maps could and should have been a good feature of this scenario. (7/10) Boons: One of the better boons I've seen, in terms of use and balance. (9/10) Uniqueness: Unique within PFS. (8/10) Overall: The mystery elements of this scenario were annoying and grindy leaving the scenario to feel only "ok". There were far too many specials this year (and I'm sure they were great), which ironically made me not want to play any of them. People want to play their own character. Specials fail to be special when there are 4+ of them per year. Soul1 is a roleplay and skill based scenario with an exceptionally deadly combat. The main problem with this scenario is that the roleplay elements are weak. After I read the scenario it's apparent why, the NPCs had no personalities, just ... information, their approval, or NPC bickering. As a player it felt bland, like I was waiting for GM driven events, and several of the "reveals" made no sense at all (why would she reveal THAT to a stranger?). The meta-plot in Soul1 is fairly interesting but it will never be revealed (until part 2) because our main ally doesn't want to tell us! Boooo! This design decision makes this scenario a standard "get the McGuffin" adventure. This was the case when I played it. Would have been more interesting if we knew what we were doing and why. Word count: When I read this scenario, I just felt there was a lot of wasted text on things either the players don't care about or probably wouldn't find out about.
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For example, saying "sorry, you were right, I was arrogant" in the next scenario. Or tombs that we couldn't search or loot if we were diplomatic. Or the tattoo on the backs of the young female ninjas that we never strip searched.
There is also a deadly combat in this scenario (APL+4), which is the main reason this scenario is getting the bad reviews.
Details:
Even worse, you can't run from this encounter (unless the GM is merciful). I can see that the author was trying to create a very cinematic fight against impossible odds, but authors cannot depend on GMs to reduce the challenge level of an encounter by using complex mechanics (shrine aura), or non-optimal monster tactics. In scenarios like "The Golemworks Incident", when GMs make mistakes and additional complex effects don't take place, the encounter becomes easier, which is the way to design good scenario, because at least you're not killing characters if a mistake is made.
To give you an idea of how much table variation there is, you only need to read the GM thread. In my case, we completely skipped the deadly encounter and didn't meet any of the Tian NPCs!! This was the result of a Divination spell and a GM that felt it was time to end our 4-hour scenario. Sigh. Maybe it was for the best instead of getting thrashed?
Even the easy combat encounter of this scenario was poorly built and confusing (for the GM).
Details:
1) The attackers had weak builds, non-complimentary tactics, and basically didn't threaten anyone. They didn't do 1 hp of damage to any PC. 2) Bakten's actions (or should I say inaction) was also unclear. Why couldn't a level 12 just destroy all of the attackers? And why would he stop attacking after round 1? 3) The attackers had irrational actions. If their mission was Bakten, they should have exclusively attacked him. Even better, they should have run away as soon as they saw us. After watching him for x years, they picked *now* to attack? 4) Daze shouldn't knock you off the top of the roof. It should have at least allowed a balance check, which they would have easily passed.
Detailed Rating:
Length: Long (4 hours but we skipped the combat and roleplay in the last encounter, could have lasted more than 5). After reading the scenario, I think this scenario could be easily condensed into a 2-3 hour scenario, and it would probably be better for it. Experience: Player with 6 good PCs at subtier 6-7. I've read this scenario as well. Sweet Spot: Subtier 6-7. If run incorrectly or with suboptimal characters, subtier 3-4 is just too deadly. Entertainment: The roleplay was banal and the combat encounters were poorly designed. (2/10) Story: You can have the best story but it doesn't matter if the players don't know. (4/10) Roleplay: There was an attempt, but ultimately forgettable. (3/10) Combat/Challenges: One combat encounter was ridiculously over tuned with creatures that are already too good for their CR. Poor play. (1/10) Maps: It was hard to know what was going on with the "B" maps. Aura radius from C2 is confusing and too small (leading to fireball formation). Poor play. (2/10) Boons: One is good but specific to season 7, the other allows you to survive part 2. (3/10) Uniqueness: The last combat encounter is unique but most GMs won't be able to run it as intended. (4/10) Overall: I didn't like the design decisions that were made in this scenario. Sorry. (3/10) Sky Key is a fairly typically special event, it’s basically 5 hours of non-stop combat encounters surrounding a meta-plot involving dozens of pathfinders that seems implausible. I thought the meta-story surrounding Sky Key was very interesting and I really enjoyed travelling through time. Although the meta-story was very interesting, it unfortunately didn’t trickle down to the encounters (or roleplay). There was an interesting mechanic of using an aid token, but it didn’t really work... tables were hoarding them and not using them. Or they didn’t understand how they worked (players need handouts). Or there weren't enough to go around. We got the aid token only a single time, used it immediately, and never saw it again. GM Perspective:
I've also recently GMed this scenario at subtier 1-2. I thought that the aid token could have been greatly simplified. Let it do 2 things (heal, inspire), not 5. Force it to go to a new table if unused at the end of an encounter. That's what we did and aid tokens felt plentiful and were received often. I felt making skill checks at the start of the scenario are silly. Sure, when we're scouting out an unknown enemy city or rare artifact, it makes sense. But I think we should assume the Pathfinder Society would give us as much information as possible to make us successful, not starve us for information. As a GM I want to share as much of the story as possible with the players as well. I thought the society's appreciation was too complicated and should have been simplified. In both my subtier 7-8 and 1-2 table, no one qualified and was just something else the GM had to worry about. I made a handout to make it easier and clearer. The Easy/Average/Hard skill checks and saves really worked well. Having all the stat blocks at the end of the scenario really worked and helped make the scenario less overwhelming to prepare. Using stat blocks "encounter by encounter" that someone created per subtier was even better. The "common encounters" were a waste of space, I didn't see a single group even close to using them, if anything we skipped entire encounters we should have had time to play out. And how about giving everyone a 5 minute bathroom break instead of rushing for 4-5 hours? I thought the entire part with the serpentfolk could have used a non-combat NPC guide to help narrate for the PCs and explain why they would want to do many of the activities that earn them victory points. Luckily in part 3 Shane performs that role of mentor. There were so many encounters, they needed to be easy or we'd never finish the scenario. IMHO have less encounters but do something special with them. Sorry, but the Lac Suhn encounter was horribly written. My GM didn't use a single word from his dialog, because it was boring. I didn't either, I took the interesting information and paraphrased it into something that was hopefully entertaining. I actually thought the anchors were brilliant, unfortunately you need Shane (and the GM) to explain things to the PCs. Sure, we were diplomatic but I had no idea what was going on until I read the scenario or why. As GM I had the most fun with this part of the scenario. The vault was also well done and could lead to an epic conclusion. At subtier 7-8 we only had 2 rounds with the boss until the scenario ended, at subtier 1-2 my players were just wasting time and killed Arodeth 5 times, although I killed a character with a crit. My GM didn't explain our options with Arodeth, even though we qualified for it. Scenario was just too confusing. The pace in this scenario was just too intense.
”Detailed Ratings”:
Length: Long (5 hours). Experience: GM with 5 OK characters at subtier 1-2. Player with 6 powerful PCs at subtier 7-8. Sweet Spot: Subtier 7-8. Entertainment: Too rushed. (6/10) Story: I thought the meta-story was fantastic, the encounters less so. The meta-story is the only reason this scenario isn't 2 stars. (8/10) Roleplay: It's up to the GM to make or break the roleplaying. (4/10) Combat/Challenges: We crushed every encounter using maybe 1/3 of our potential. Our wizard was usually on delay after the 1st round and our tetsori monk reading his iPad. Everything had a lot of hit points without any stopping power. (5/10) Maps: Good use of flip maps. (7/10) Boons: Great boons. (10/10) Uniqueness: Despite the fantastic meta-story, it still felt like an average dungeon romp. (3/10) GM Preparation: An improvement over other specials, but everything could still be simplified a lot more. Overall: If you liked the other specials, chances are you will like this one as well, the story felt epic. For me, there are still too many bland combat encounters (the scenario never takes the time to do anything special), and everything is rushed. Connection is a skill based scenario mixed with several challenging combat encounters. If you don’t have one character with strong Knowledge skills, I would avoid this scenario. Connection really shines when it comes to the cool and unique environments/combats, the imagery, and the story. What makes these combats and environments unique also makes them very challenging and I think this scenario can be an absolute killer for many groups. We got lucky (with the classes we brought) and even my group was challenged (and softballed in one encounter). Connection uses a research mechanic but I found this to be the most boring part of the scenario and surprisingly... time consuming. I didn’t feel that the research mechanic was cumbersome however or that there was "rules bloat", they were just skill checks. Having said that, GMs really need to speed this part along with strong preparation, notes, and potentially handouts for the players. We had a nearly optimal party (and used several "tricks" to be successful) and we still didn’t complete the research in time (which makes me wonder if my GM did something wrong). The other weakness of this scenario is that it can easily run longer than 5 hours. Several of the combats feature opponents that have strong defenses or that remove PCs from combat. This would have been OK for one, maybe two encounters in a scenario, but not for all of them. There is a really cool secret mechanic in this scenario but my GM forgot about it. Could have been amazing? :( ”Detailed Rating”:
Length: Very long (5 hours). I don’t believe we used the optional encounter, we skipped 50% of the first and last encounters when we were winning, and we skipped the secret. Could have easily been 6+ hours. Experience: Player with 6 good PCs at subtier 5-6 which were perfectly suited for the scenario. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Apart from the necessary evil of the research mechanic, I was very entertained by the story, environments, and combats. (9/10) Story: An interesting story, I’m not sure 100% understood it however. Maybe a GM problem? (8/10) Roleplay: Very little and not interesting. (2/10) Combat/Challenges: Unique, interesting, all combats are challenging for difference reasons. (8/10) Maps: Nice unique maps. (9/10) Boons: Great boons. (10/10) Uniqueness: Something different. (9/10) Overall: Blakros Connection has great environments and challenging/unique combats. It's up to the GM to get to the good stuff and tell the story to the players. In combat, bring your "A" game. (8/10) Matrimony is a roleplay and skill based scenario punctuated by a challenging combat. Now that we no longer have faction missions, I feel that Matrimony has lost some of its charm. When playing this in season 6+, I would seriously consider giving out the faction missions for added intrigue and knowledge. I had to explain a lot of the characters, background, and Golarion lore to my players so they understood the context, and they had a great time as a result. If your character doesn't have social skills (like mine), you might feel like there really isn't a lot to do. However, the scenario was designed so that the checks aren't that high and alternate skills can be used, so it isn't true. Matrimony is really great in this respect. I was actually surprised at how challenging Matrimony was, especially given some of the environmental conditions. Our GM actually needed to softball our (competent) group. When I GMed my group also needed to run. Detailed Ratings:
Length: Long. When I played it was 4 hours, when I GMed it was 5 hours (and we cut the last encounter short). Experience: GM with 4 OK PCs (2 pregens) at 6-7. Player with 6 good PCs at subtier 6-7. Several diplomacy monkeys. We were nerfed by the environment and this made things more challenging than normal. Sweet Spot: Both subtiers are good, subtier 6-7 has easier skill checks. Entertainment: Depends on GM, depends if you have a character that excels in this environment. (9/10) Story: A good story with plot twists and interesting NPCs. (10/10) Roleplay: Lots but GMs need to make the influence point mechanic more organic. (9/10) Combat/Challenges: Can be boring without a social character, combats can be deadly because of the wedding environment and challenge level. (7/10) Maps: Average. (7/10) Boons: Although it's kind of vague, there are enough of them that we actually used it in a scenario we played later. (8/10) Uniqueness: We've seen similar scenarios in the past but Matrimony has some quirky plot twists. (9/10) Overall: Matrimony is still a great roleplay scenario but when faction missions were removed, it lost some of the fun. Edit: Matrimony is a great roleplay scenario. If you're a GM that doesn't do any prep work and just reads the personalities of the NPCs, yes this will be a 3 star scenario. With a good roleplaying GM it is 5. Vault is a short, unremarkable, but solid dungeon crawl. This is mostly a combat scenario. I think Vault's main strength is to provide new GMs a scenario they can run. The other reviews lead me to believe there were some humorous moments, and there was one, but it was a short chuckle and lasted all of 10 seconds. Details:
Length: Short. Finished in 1.5 hours, maybe less, and we weren't that fast. Experience: Player with 6 players (mostly veterans) at subtier 1-2. I think we had the optional encounter as well. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Except for cookie monster, ABC D&D. (2/10) Story: Get the McGuffin from the sewers. Not that interesting. (1/10) Roleplay: There was some, although it wasn't compelling. "What are you doing here?". (4/10) Combat/Challenges: Probably the best part of the scenario. (7/10) Maps: Mostly sewers. (6/10) Boons: Nothing. (1/10) Uniqueness: Been there, done that. (1/10) Secondary Objective: Non-intuitive objective, this one we should have probably known about, like a faction mission. Luckily GMs are lenient. (2/10) Overall: While there was nothing "bad" about this scenario per se, it just felt like I've been there, done that, and that my time would be better spent doing something else. While I like the format of Silverhex Chronicles (with each segment being only 45 minutes, with the ability for players to jump in or out), I didn't particularly like the Silverhex experience itself. The story was really thin and non-intuitive. We want to get an artifact from someone. We go looking for her but instead we find her journal. We read the journal and find that she wants different artifacts, and then we try to get these artifacts hoping that she will trade these minor artifacts with us for the major artifact that we need... when we eventually find her. These MacGuffins were found all over the world, lol, involving weeks, maybe months of travel. But let's ignore that. The Silverhex demo wasn't as good as demos I've done for other RPG systems, and there was nothing to distinguish Pathfinder from other systems. There wasn't any roleplaying or puzzles, there was no human element. Each segment was a skill check (that didn't matter, like opening a door) followed by a non-interesting combat. Even with a good GM, each one was a yawner. Despite not liking this particular quest, I hope to see more quests that follow this format, but perhaps being shorter in length (2 hours) and only offering some extra gold when they start a character. Detailed Rating:
Length: Medium. All the quests can be completed in 4 hours. Experience: Player with 6 players (4 of them new to PF) with pregens. Sweet Spot: Level 1. Entertainment: *YAWN*. (1/10) Story: Illogical. (2/10) Roleplay: None. (1/10) Combat/Challenges: Just wasn't interesting. (2/10) Maps: OK, used lots of flip mats (which were unavailable to my GM).(7/10) Boons: The rewards were suitable. (8/10) Uniqueness: 80s flashback. (1/10) Faction Missions: None. (N/A) Bottom Line: If I was doing a demo of Pathfinder for new players, I personally wouldn't use the Silverhex Chronicles. Even playing this scenario 2 years after the Lantern Lodge retired… I’m very glad I did. This is a very good combat based scenario. Unlike previous scenarios, it had Tian flavor (at the tea ceremony) and in truth, I really wish this section was expanded upon more, because it had the potential for fun. In the end, I was surprised by the question and it was over before I knew it. The combat is fairly challenging in this scenario, especially at subtier 6-7. However, I would have it no other way and it will surely be memorable at this subtier. My only suggestion would have been to explain to ALL factions the reason the Lantern Lodge was leaving, not just to Lantern Lodge members. I appreciated it when the GM read the box text that was supposed to be for the Lantern Lodge only. Spoiler:
Length: Medium-long. We finished in 4 hours without doing the optional combat. Experience: Player with 4 players at subtier 6-7 (2 pregens). Sweet Spot: Subtier 6-7 if your characters are up to the challenge. Entertainment: Great Tian flavor and images. (9/10) Story: Tian flavored escort mission. (8/10) Roleplay: A LITTLE more would have been welcome. (4/10) Combat/Challenges: Decent variety, fun, challenging at subtier 6-7. Interesting ways to make it easier. The enemies are very well designed. (9/10) Maps: Good. (8/10) Boons: Nice. (10/10) Uniqueness: Somewhat unique. (7/10) Overall: A fun combat scenario dripping with Tian flavor. (8/10). These red dragons are my favorite minis. The paint jobs are of supreme quality (in terms of painting but also color), are actually BETTER than their stock images (which is odd), and worth every penny. The size is great, the details are great, they are perfect. Great care was taken making these. If you're making more dragon evolution sets, I will gladly pay for them! The iconic heroes sets are the best character minis that Wizkids have ever done. These sets give consumers good quality minis at a reasonable price. The level of detail on their clothes, gear, and even tattoos are perfect, and couldn’t be any better. Most of the faces look good and contain a level of detail not found in other minis. It's worth noting that all of the weapons in this set were straight. Mini specific ratings:
Valeros: Good. Seelah: Perfect, as good as the stock image. The best mini of the set. Seoni: Good, but she's missing all of the gold embroidery in her dress. Sajan: His belt and chest bands were colored light blue, but this is still a close second for best mini of the set. A very good Sajan. Lini: Lini has a creepy look on her face. Besides the face they did a great job on a mini this small. Droogami (Snow Leopard): I wish Droogami looked like his stock image! Unfortunately the mold has no details in his face and it looks like a big blob (although the artist did the best with what they had to work with). The saddle blanket is blue instead of green. Easily the worst mini of the set and more on par with the quality of Pathfinder Battles.
”Pathfinder Card Game Exclusive Cards”:
If you’re into organized play, you’re probably also interested in what the exclusive cards offer. Fighter (item): Item that buffs constitution checks and allows potions to be recharged. The fighter class deck only has a potion of flying in adventure 3. Even so, this card will likely be used from adventure 3+. This card is too powerful for home play IMHO. Paladin (armor): Helmet allows character to reveal or recharge to reduce all damage by 2. This card is ridiculously powerful and better than some adventure 6 armor. Needless to say it will be with you from start to end. Sorcerer (item): Staff allows the character to recharge the item to scout. Useful to start a character and is likely useful for a few adventures. Monk (weapon): +1 1H sword that allows blessings to be recharged to add a die to your Dex check. I'm assuming this weapon will be useful as soon as a weapon can be added to the deck until the end. Druid (item): Reveal to add 2 to Survival/close location checks. Discard to exchange with an animal ally in the discard pile. Although I don't believe this is useful to RotRL Lini, I believe this will be extremely useful from start to end for the other druids. Druid (ally): Recharge for D8 buff to Stealth or Perception. Allows character to move to another location and explore. Another extremely powerful card, will be with you from start to end. Good product for the right price. The iconic heroes sets are the best character minis that Wizkids have ever done. These sets give consumers good quality minis at a reasonable price. Having said that, the faces on the miniatures do not contain the level of detail as their stock images on this web site. Not even close. The minis look like minis (which is sometimes a good thing since I don’t like the creepy look on Lini’s face in the stock image). Still, most of the faces look good and contain a level of detail not found in other minis. Besides the face, the level of detail on their clothes, gear, and even tattoos are perfect, and couldn’t be any better. It's worth noting that all of the weapons in this set were straight. Mini specific ratings:
Amiri: Good. Ezren: His face looks smushed like a pig and looks nothing like the stock image. His yellow shirt is orange/red. Amazingly all the remaining details on his clothing, buckles and material components are perfect. Although it's acceptable (mostly because of how good the clothing looks), it's the worst mini of this set. Kyra: Great, amazing level of detail. The best mini of this set. Merisiel: Good. Harsk: Good, but his red gloves were brown. Biter: Good (which is rare for animal minis) but instead of being black and white, Biter was painted black and grey.
”Pathfinder Card Game Exclusive Cards”:
If you’re into organized play, you’re probably also interested in what the exclusive cards offer. Barbarian (weapon): +1 2H sword. Extremely useful to a starting character and will be used until one of the last adventures. Wizard (item): Recharge the item to use Arcane for a single non-combat check. Extremely powerful and will be used until the end. Cleric (blessing): Blessing of the Dawnflower is almost identical to a blessing of Sarenrae but with the ability to play another blessing on the check. Extremely powerful for Kyra who will use it the entire AP, somewhat powerful for other clerics. Rogue (item): Boots that buff stealth and acrobatics checks, also allow exchange with an item in the discard pile. Useful to a starting character, I’m not sure about later. Ranger (item): Discard to buff diplomacy / perception for any character at your location. Reveal to allow scouting if a liquid trait boon is played. Considering that the only liquid item available is found in adventure 5, I don't believe this is a useful boon. Ranger (ally): Biter allows a character to explore again with a +d6 combat bonus, but only if it’s a monster. Only useful if no other animal allies are available. Not useful, disappointing.
Good product for the right price. The main reason I dislike this scenario is that it brings out the worst in GMs and players, and has the ability to suck the fun out of Pathfinder. Bonekeep was created to challenge players and allow them to power game without regret, yet GMs get ornery when you that. They dislike it when they can’t kill you within the scope of a killer scenario. When they can’t kill you legitimately, they cheat to do so. For example, even though we were supposed to be running subtier 3-4, there were instances where he used subtier 6-7 (because he felt we were gaming the system, even though we barely succeeded in part 1). With help after the scenario, I actually created an entire document on how my GM cheated in over 30 ways. Unbelievable. Bonekeep 2 is a killer scenario but unlike part 1, I didn’t find this one as creative or interesting. There's a good chance your character could have a permanent disability by playing this scenario, successful or not (mine does). This is the part that most players dislike. The worst part is that unlike part 1, there are a lot of sections that are open to GM interpretation, that allow GMs to be complete cheaters. If you want to have any chance of completing this scenario on time, you can’t argue, your biggest enemy is the clock. Although we were successful (one of the very few groups that were 100% successful at Gencon), it created an un-fun environment for the players both inside and outside of the game, which ultimately resulted in a 2 year hiatus for an entire PFS group. The GM (who in other circumstances is probably really great) was reported and got a black mark against his name. Sure, we ran both parts of Bonekeep 1 and 2 100% successfully, gaining all the boons, without a single player death. Having said that, playing this scenario we still "lost". Not recommended. 
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Character Add-On DeckPaizo Inc.
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Jason S
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I’m really surprised there isn’t a review for this product yet since I consider this a required accessory for the game. If you’re going to be playing a game with more than 4 players, you’ll want this deck so that you have enough cards for everyone at the table (especially if you have several spell casters). You probably won’t have enough of some spells, weapons, or items, but it helps with the problem and beats buying another base set. You’ll also want this deck for character variety. It makes the base set a lot more replayable since every character has its own playstyle. The product quality itself is very nice, good card stock. As usual the art is great as well. The characters are (mostly) well-balanced and are very enjoyable to play, each of them has a slightly different mechanic that makes it fun to play different characters. About each of the characters: 1) Lini (druid): Lini is a jack-of-all-trades and can beat almost any challenge. She also has the potential to explore many times in a turn. Because of her diversity and ability to explore quickly, I consider her the most powerful character in the game. Borderline broken but enjoyable none-the-less. You can play Lini as a support only character, however she is more effective solo or part of a team. 2) Sajan (monk): This character uses blessings to power his attacks. Initially he is very weak but becomes extremely powerful and versatile as the AP continues. 3) Seelah (paladin): Seelah also boosts her attack by using blessings. Seelah is a good solo character and is somewhat diverse. They did a very good job translating the paladin class from the RPG to the card game. 4) Amiri (barbarian): This character is all about combat and does that fairly well. Having said that, except for a few scenarios she is not a team player. I consider her one of the weakest characters in the game, but she’s fun to play for the challenge. Anyway, great product. After the rave reviews, I was expecting something great. Instead I experienced a generic exploration scenario with a story not worth telling. The premise of the scenario was that our group was doing one last simple mission before becoming full Pathfinders. But... the mission could have really been anything and nothing special occurred. My session:
My session was:
- 2 wolves who died before most of the party could act. - Irrelevant Aroden trivia (that the new players didn't understand and could care less about) - 4 zombies/skeletons who couldn't be reached by most of the party because of a chokepoint (and were killed by the alchemist) - A deaf NPC (who wasted our time with nothing relevant to say) - A boss fight where most of the party didn't participate because they were too slow. Almost killed our ninja. Aroden information is going to go WAYYYY over the heads of new players. In my group, I was the only one who cared enough to pay any attention to that information at all. New players won't know what to do with all the new "gifts" they find, let alone know that they should ID them (or how), or know how to use them to their advantage.
The only thing I like about this scenario is how it taught you about Pathfinder Society, what it means to be a Pathfinder, and how to be a good Pathfinder. The boons are relevant and nice too. Detailed Ratings:
Length: Short. Could take as little as 2-3 hours, which is good because new players don't know what their character sheets means let alone the rules of the game. Experience: Player with seven level 1 PCs (all new to Pathfinder except for me). GM with four level 2 characters with players new to Pathfinder. Sweet Spot: Level 1 and 2 are OK. Entertainment: The overall story wasn't captivating. The Aroden trivia wasn't used anywhere, so I felt like I wasted my time taking notes. (4/10) Story: Necromancer killing dumb Gillmen. (3/10) Roleplay: The NPC we encountered had nothing useful, relevant, or funny to say. (2/10) Puzzles: When I played, none of us made our Perception or Knowledge rolls apparently? It doesn't matter though, the puzzles are tricky, pointless, and there is no payoff. (1/10) Combat: All combats excluded participants in one way or another. (2/10) Maps: Good use of flip maps and I liked the custom map. (8/10) Boons: Great boon, which is why I'm guessing people like this scenario. (10/10) Uniqueness: The tavern intro was good, everything else was fairly generic. (3/10) Faction Missions: None. (N/A) Overall: Basically, this scenario is probably great for a group of 4 veteran PFS players, but didn't do well with a group of 6 new PFS players. I can think of many other scenarios I'd rather use to introduce new players to PFS. (6/10) I want to start off the review by saying that the review covers the first 60% of the scenario. Because of venue problems, we were unable to complete the last 2 hours. Having said that... I don't like how specials have devolved into "how many encounters can we grind into 5 hours" affairs. I didn't really find the encounters or locations in the first half of the scenario particularly interesting or worth my time. The first encounter didn't even make sense to me and it was ridiculous in my opinion (especially considering my group was subtler 10-11, we were searching and can easily make +40 perception checks). Sigh. I don't really see any point in having more than one wave of creatures per encounter, except to wait for other tables to finish the encounter (and maybe even having a break might be better). It's just filler and doesn't enhance the story experience in any way. But then... there's a cool twist and the second half of the scenario gets much better from what I understand. It still doesn't make the first 3 hours any better. So I'm left thinking that part 1 could have been reduced in length (3 hours long) and more focus could have been on part 2 (2 hours long). Detailed Ratings:
Length: Long, will take 5 hours at least. Organizers need to start on time. Experience: Played with 5 uber players at subtier 10-11. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Second half could have been entertaining, first half wasn't at all. (6/10) Story: Some story, wasn't captivated. Maybe handouts are needed. (5/10) Roleplay: None in the first half, maybe in second half. Combat/Challenges: Wasn't too hard or easy, but wasn't interesting. Could be challenging for some groups as the scenario used monsters that are very good for their CR. (5/10) Maps: Maps were actually OK (but small), my GMs print outs never had the right scale however. (7/10) Boons: More flavor compared to prior years, but not as useful either, and not really worthy of taking the time/money to attend a special event. (4/10) Uniqueness: Not at all, just a bunch of traps and combat encounters strung together. Did not like. (1/10) Faction Missions: None. (N/A) I'm just not a fan of specials that grind encounters without decision making or roleplaying mattering at all. This is actually my least favorite special event. Scars is another roleplay sandbox/ investigation experience reminiscent of Murder on the Throaty Mermaid. This scenario will literally live or die with your GM. GMs, do everyone a favor, if you don't enjoy or can't adapt to running roleplay sandbox scenarios, stay away from them! And of course, the players need to like it as well. It's possible that you might get only 1 combat in 5 hours, but that's really your choice on how you handle the various encounters. My GM said running this was complex, but he had only read through the scenario once. In addition, he said we went off the rails a bit. Detailed Rating:
Length: Medium. I believe we finished in 4 hours, nothing was skipped or rushed. Experience: 6 veteran players at subtier 1-2. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Highly entertaining with a few great characters and funny moments. (10/10) Story: Story was simple but yet had lots of twists to keep us guessing. (9/10) Roleplay: Almost all roleplay. (10/10) Combat/Challenges: It's hard to judge the scenario based on one combat, but we were mostly level 1 and I felt the end encounter was the perfect challenge level. The scenario made use of one of the most hated mechanics in Pathfinder, I'm not sure why. (9/10) Maps: Unsure, we only really used the town map and everything else was hand drawn. (7/10) Boons: Sweet (if you are Silver Crusade), average otherwise. (8/10) Uniqueness: Not unique but I love scenarios like this and it fit perfectly with the setting. (8/10) Faction Missions: This scenario was made for Silver Crusade and I believe if we had a Silver Crusade at the table, it would have enhanced the experience. (10/10) I would highly recommend this if you like roleplay and investigation and have a GM that can pull it off. I was very lucky and received a nearly perfect set of minis from this set. I had absolutely no breaks and the painting was nearly flawless. The only suggestion I have is that Wizkids uses a glossier paint sometimes. I find the paint they use to be very dull looking, which makes it feel cheap and not durable. Here are some highlights from the set. Awesome Bugbear Warrior: Surprise! This common was painted flawlessly and is one of my favorites. Calikang: One of my favorites from the set. Great sculpt, detail, and flawless paint job. Djinni: Another highlight. Amazing details. Fire Demon/Balor: This baby is the king of the set. The best sculpt, lots of details, a great translucent whip, and near perfect painting. The only thing that could be better is if the paint job was a little glossier. Green Dragon: Flawless paint, extremely nice. For more detail see my review. Greater Death Demon/Vrolikai: Another highlight. Beautiful. Marsh Giant: This high gloss mini turned out to be a great surprise. Medium Black Dragon: This mini looks better than in the pictures. I understand that this was previously a large mini, but I found it perfect as a medium. Great sculpt, pose, and flawless paint. The black paint is a little blue however. I don’t see how it could be much better without a custom paint job. Sandpoint Devil: This mini is one of my favorites. It’s BIG, much larger than normal. I don’t know why, but it’s apparent that more time was spent painting this mini than any other mini in the set, including the green dragon! The details and blending of color are incredible. I guess WK wanted to make Paizo happy. A joy to look at. Seugathi: Another highlight. Love the sculpt and the gloss finish. Serpent Demon/Marilith: Another nice surprise. Everything was flawless. Some people might have a problem with the swords looking like lightsabers, but I think they're alright. Serpentfolk High Priest: Another favorite with flawless paint and lots of details. Good Derhii: The gray on this mini is too dull but it’s painted flawlessly. Eagle Knight, Eagle Knight Officer, Knight of Ozem, Janni, Thrune Agent, Queen Ileosa: All of these medium humanoids were painted flawlessly and could not have not been done any better. Hodag, Reefclaw, Snow Leopard, Tatzylwurm: Better than expected. Orc Archer, Orc Mystic, Orc Soldier: Perfect details, even on the commons. Moon Beast: Gets better with time and is a favorite. Serpentfolk Degenerate, Serpentfolk Mystic: Half of them were flawless, half were only “OK”. Slurk: Nice innovation with the disgusting gunk underneath his chin. Tooth Gang Brute/Knifer: Pretty good but not flawless. Ulat-Kini: Love the wet/glossy look. OK
Charau-Ka: The paint job is worse than what’s shown on the website. Probably too many details. Kolbold Chieftain, Kolbold King, Kolbold Mystic, Kolbold Warrior: Unfortunately, my kolbolds were not done to the level of perfection found on the website (they have no faces). They are “OK”. Monkey Swarm: They don’t look like monkeys (more like zombie babies). The problem with swarms is that to use them in game, they need to be flat coasters/bases, not minis. Disappointing Beautific One: For me this was the biggest disappointment of the set. It had the worst paint job. I’m not even sure it was the artist’s fault, it might have just been the sculpt itself. I’m not even sure I want to use it in my AP. Warning: Does NOT look like the website picture at all! Goblin Pyro #1 + #2: I find it interesting that these minis are some of the best for some people, but for me the paint jobs are the worst, and they’re missing paint on their heads. Usable but not great. Hellknight Signifier: The problem is the sculpt. Does not look as good as the preview picture. Barely any details and barely usable. I didn’t get the following minis: Efreeti, Hezrou, Kolbold Archer, King Irovetti, Gorilla King, Lini, Marid, Mothman, Shaitan, Sajan, Scourge Hellknight. Overall
My green dragon was painted flawlessly and looks very nice. If you like the dragon pictured on the website, you'll like the mini you get. The only criticism of this mini is that for a gargantuan creature, she seems small. For example, my (large) Sandpoint Devil looks almost the same size! Overall a very nice mini and I'm happy to have it. I'm not sure what the other reviewers see in this scenario. To me it was a fairly unmemorable romp through the jungle. We killed some wildlife, some natives, and went home. This is what I'd expect for tier 3-7, but I expect more for subtier 10-11. There was an unsurprising surprise (that lasted 10 seconds) but that's it. Nothing really grabbed my attention in this scenario. ”Detailed Rating”:
Length: 3 hours and we were slow. I think we skipped the optional encounter. On a positive note I found my first subtier 10-11 scenario that actually fits into a 4 hour time slot. Experience: Player at subtier 10-11 with 5 good PCs. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: Wasn't bad it wasn't good, it was just there. (5/10) Story: There might have been a story, but it was lost in the venue. It's possible we didn't have the skills to uncover the story. Still... (4/10) Roleplay: The one roleplaying encounter had an annoying NPC and not a lot of information. (3/10) Combat/Challenges: At subtier 10-11, the combat encounters were extremely easy and what made them interesting or unique had no relevance at all for this subtier. Making the encounters harder wouldn't have improved this scenario. (3/10) Maps: Average. (5/10) Boons: n/a (n/a) Uniqueness: Maybe I've been playing D&D too long, but I felt like I played this 100 times before. (2/10) Faction Missions: Average. (7/10) Overall: Standard jungle romp that's not worthy of your limited subtier 10-11 playing time. (5/10) I have mixed feelings about this scenario. On one hand, it certainly felt epic at times. On the other hand, I felt way out of my league, the combat encounters were too challenging, even for a well built party of 6 including an extremely twinked out PC. We also went overtime and had no chance of finishing the scenario, it was just too long. The introduction took too long and was confusing, it really needed a hand out. The first encounter could have been interesting but any nuances were lost because of the background noise of the venue. I thought the puzzle was good and themed well (and we solved it quickly). Some of the combats took more time than normal (cat and mouse). Everything else was OK until the optional encounter, which proceeded to kick our butts. We didn't get to the final encounter, but it was obvious (to me) we were going to get smushed if we didn't run out of time. ”Detailed Rating”:
Length: Extremely long (5+ hours). For our group, this scenario should have taken 7 hours (if we finished it at all, lol). Our GM made the mistake of using the optional encounter in a 5 hour slot because we had 2 hours left. Big mistake, we didn't finish that encounter or the last encounter. The players were fast, it just took that long. Experience: Player at subtier 10-11 with 6 well built PCs, one of them twinked. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: The combat felt overwhelming to me (we ran after the surprise round in one encounter). Either our twink archer destroyed everything or we were in trouble. Feeling like an ineffective glorified punching bag is not what I'm looking for in an RPG. One PC should have died if he didn't have an obscure magic item. (5/10) Story: Most of the story elements were themed well, but weren't done justice in a noisy venue. (8/10) Roleplay: Some interesting choices, but again the noisy venue didn't help. (8/10) Combat/Challenges: Fun puzzle, but the combats felt too challenging to me. I know a lot of creatures were summoned, but it felt like a monster menagerie at times. Too many encounters. (5/10) Maps: OK but nothing to get excited about. (7/10) Boons: A powerful boon setting us up for failure at a later date. All hail Krune! (10/10) Uniqueness: The best part of this scenario are the encounters at the start and end. (8/10) Faction Missions: Don't remember and I'm not 100% sure we even had time for them. (7/10) Overall: The puzzles and roleplaying were good but made the session last more than 5 hours. The combats made my PC yearn for retirement, but not in a good/fun way. (7/10) Mission Impossible. That's the best description for this scenario. The other reviews already covered the great parts of this scenario: Fun mission, great setting, good roleplaying, fun puzzle, fantastic handouts, and out-of-the-box thinking might be needed. If you're a GM or player that doesn't like roleplaying scenarios, do everyone a favor and pass on it. Somehow our group blundered through this scenario, so if our 2 fighters and cleric can, anyone can do it. But maybe the GM was just being generous. Also, we split the party lots of times, you just have to know when to proceed and when to wait. I think this scenario teaches hard, but good lessons. ”Detailed Rating”:
Length: Short to Medium. It ran 3.5 hours for us, but many other groups were done in 2.5 hours. I think we had more fun though. Experience: Player with six players at subtier 4-5 with mediocre PCs, several playing up. Sweet Spot: TBD. Entertainment: I thought it was fun but the sky's the limit on this one. (9/10) Story: I really enjoyed the story elements, especially the small details about Zarta. Great handouts. (10/10) Roleplay: Disappeared has a lot of potential, which may or may not be realized. (9/10) Combat/Challenges: Easy combat challenges and fun roleplaying skill challenges. Puzzles that were neither too easy or too hard. (10/10) Maps: The last map could have had a better explanation, but overall, awesome. (10/10) Boons: This boon is a little more useful and powerful than normal. Having said that, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would we be in Cheliax's good graces after we infiltrated and ransacked their embassy? Sigh. Thanks anyway. (4/10) Uniqueness: There aren't many infiltration missions in PFS. (9/10) Faction Missions: I can't remember, not even sure they were handed out (season 5). (n/a) Overall: This scenarios has the potential to either be awesome or crash and burn. For us it rocked. (9/10) This scenario instills a sense of wonder and mystery in the players, which is a rare thing these days. This scenario is an escort mission and a travel-based skill challenge scenario that rewards creative solutions, and it's strongly supported by a wonderful storyline. My only complaint about this scenario is that the scenario starts and ends strong, but the middle of the scenario seems like filler. The combats (especially the last one) need to be beefed up a little (NOT a lot!). Then the scenario would be perfect. ”Detailed Rating”:
Length: Medium. We finished in 3 hours. Experience: GM with 4 players, many playing up (APL 3.5). Player with 6 players at subtier 4-5, several of us were playing up. Sweet Spot: Both subtiers are fine, but some of the skill challenges might be too tough for subtier 1-2. Having 4 players instead of 6 will compound this problem. Entertainment: Lots of fun. (10/10) Story: One of the better PFS storylines. (9/10) Roleplay: Lots of roleplay without talking :0. (8/10) Combat/Challenges: March starts and ends great, but the middle is filler. The combats are too easy, especially the last encounter. Nice travel challenges. (8/10) Maps: Average. (7/10) Boons: Awesome. Thanks for allowing me to survive in Bonekeep. :) (10/10) Uniqueness: We really should have more escort missions. (10/10) Faction Missions: Seemed average. (7/10) Overall: A great mystery, adventure and storyline. Highly recommended for new players to PFS. (9/10)
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