I just got this mat recently due to starting up organized play in our area, I thought it would work quite nicely and I was right!
For those talking about the mousepad aspect of it, you're spot on! This feels durable, rolls nicely and has a nice feel to it. Everything is accounted for. I would highly recommend this mat for anyone on the go to help players out. The only complaint that I have (very small) is that the location spaces have the number of players listed, but I tend to organize the locations based on where everyone is sitting. In my opinion, it would have been better to put the 6th person spot pointing towards the adventure deck/scenario/adventure area.
This is one of those scenarios that just stick with you. I ran this one night about 2 or 3 months ago and I'm still getting compliments on it. I wish we could play as goblin pathfinders, but this is the closest opportunity you'll ever get. Even my wife who doesn't play very often agreed that she'd play more often for more of these types of scenarios.
The adventure:
When I ran this, we had 7 people thus 7 goblins. I decided before we started that I was going to give each of the goblins a personality in the form of a class. Paladin, rouge, barbarian, cleric, etc. (Read the GM forums for this idea.) The idea was that they thought they were pathfinders the same way that 5 year olds think they are power rangers.
Overall, this is one of those situations that will make your players think outside of the box, not rush in head first into every scenario, frustrate them to no end and at the end of the night, walk away from the table patting each other on the back.
I would run this scenario multiple times and play in it multiple times. Bravo!
I ran this for a group of four pretty seasoned players yesterday and this scenario has it all! Good encounters, plenty of replayability due to the random encounter tables, chances for roleplaying, puzzle solving and a BBEG that is going to scare the crap out of any newer plyers.
I think my favorite thing about this scenario is that it highly emphisizes the three Society tenants, Explore, Report and Cooperate.
There is one or two things in the book that were typo'd (Janira Gavix's wayfinder is engraved with J.L.), but with the help of the GM prep forums and some on your feet thinking, that's just a chance to expound on her backstory a little more.
I look forward to playing in this scenario as a player and I feel like I wouldn't mind running or playing this scenario multiple times.
As this is my first review of a product, I'll try to come up with a good format while I'm typing this.
Perspective of GM, have ran 3 times now, once at local PFS group, once at a con and once for my home group, all ran as tier 1-2.
Story:
I think the story behind this scenario is a good lead in towards the rest of this season. It's a pretty straight forward situation that the PCs are led into.
Encounters:
The encounters are great! The first encounter (wolf and baboon choice) is nice and balanced, but I have to say, the baboon is the most dangerous thing in this encounter.
The drake is a nice touch and the acidic mucus is a nice touch. Dangerous for a first level character, but still savable. My only problem with this encounter is that I feel like the author should have included tactics based on if the PCs go north or south at the island. (Does the Drake fly over them menacingly and spit at them or does he try and do that from the water? Or better yet, say that if the PCs go north, the drake can't fly, something along those lines.)
The final encounter (both Lemures and Holy and CO.) is nice. I really enjoy Holy's feat selection and the lead in to where everyone thinks she's a cleric and her tactics.
Choices:
I did like the choices that the PCs are presented with throughout this scenario. The only one that I'm not a big fan of is the island. I understand there is some tactical value by going either north or south (and my 3rd group chose to avoid the trees in fear of baboons), but I think this portion should have been a little more expanded on.
All the other choices were great! Even if it feels weird having 1st level pathfinders taking recommendations for trade agreements back to the VCs
Primary & Secondary Conditions:
The primary condition is very straight forward and easy to achieve. No problems there.
As for the secondary conditions, no problems there at all. I really enjoy how this scenario was set up with a 2 out of 3 possibility. Let me expand on each one of those though.
1. Bluff the sisters - This one, none of my groups has accomplished. This falls more under a misc. situation more than this goal. My first problem with this is that the sister's bluff check is a bit high for first level characters to beat, unless they are focusing on bluff as a primary skill, then it goes down to the dice roll. I'll put more into a MISC spoiler.
2. Box of hair (1-2) - This one is very easy to accomplish. Nice easy Perception check to find this one.
3. Holy - All my tables have killed her outright every time I've ran this, so also no problems here. I feel like this is the teetering point of whether or not the PCs get the extra prestige point, so if the PCs allow her to escape, they should lose the extra point here. (Mean DM moment.)
MISC. and Final Thoughts:
Beside the drake fight, I hae really enjoyed the 3 old ladies. With there being 3 of them and one of them wearing the yellow scarf, all my tables have thought they were witches and have attacked outright the old ladies. Luckily, I've been able to get word to Roth each time to get holy's attention. This has been something I get to chuckle at every time and I hope the author has intended this as well.
TL:DR version:
Encounters are straight forward, all choices but the drake fight are cool RP situations, BBEG is very cool, overall difficulty is low for 1-2 characters, 3 old ladies are really good at sense motive and create good paranoia and the success conditions are a nice touch.
Overall, 4 stars due to great scenario, but the island fight needs a little more to it.
