Kaushal Avan Spellfire's page

I played this game in high tier.

PFS2 5-14 Poisonous Council is an adventure for 3rd to 6th-level characters set in the city of Daggermark, a River Kingdom settlement famous for its assassins. Written by Society veteran Tineke Bolleman, the story sees a group of Pathfinder agents attempt to create inroads with the Poisoner's Guild of Daggermark in order to secure alchemical supplies to produce antidotes at scale to keep Pathfinder Society agents safe.

Poisonous Council is a straightforward concept with a lot of room for exploration and roleplay. Toward the beginning, the scenario seems to promise intrigue and politicking as you must meet with Tragshi the Herbalist using clandestine means. Unfortunately, what mystery the scenario promised rapidly dissolves like iocaine powder in wine into a mess of weak mechanics and unrealized set pieces.

This scenario uses both the Influence and Infiltration subsystems, meaning that this scenario is not for everyone. Influence scenes are always a contentious topic as they tend to heavily gamify otherwise roleplay-heavy scenes, and can run long even when the GM is trying to keep things moving. Our GM did a good job organizing the information for us, but we still took around 1.5 hours of a 5 hour block to complete a quarter of the adventure. The problem with Influence is deeper than just GM preparation, however, as it condenses a dynamic conversation into what is effectively a series of skill checks. This, to me, reduces the amount of player choice and, as I witnessed at our table, can stifle creativity, as players tried to apply "good" skills to interactions in odd ways.

The real sticking point of this scenario, however, is the Infiltration system. If our group was tired after the Influence scene, the Infiltration scene sucked all of the oxygen out of the room. The Infiltration system is an attempt to model the narrative dynamics of heist stories in Pathfinder 2E, with poor results. I will not go into a lengthy critique of the Infiltration system here, but instead lay out two major issues I noticed with Infiltration. First, Infiltration is overly-reliant on passing specific skill checks (we were held up on a Door obstacle as we kept failing Stealth checks) to progress the scene, and lacks the fail-forward mentality of other infiltration-themed games to keep the story moving. It also requires a substantial number of successes to move forward, further slowing narrative pacing. Combined with the fact that the scenario does not use the optional Edge Points mechanic, scenes can grind to a frustrating halt as players repeatedly fail checks. Second, Infiltration, especially as it was used in this scenario, is at odds with how Pathfinder 2E groups typically interact with their environments. A typical PF2E expedition involves exploring a region and slowly learning more about it, whereas a typical heist involves a group with advanced knowledge of a space maneuvering within it to achieve a specific objective, and narrative tension arising from elements that were not initially accounted for. In this scenario, the Infiltration mechanic is applied to an exploration of a space, with an overall poor effect. Ultimately, we spent over 2 hours on this scene trying to progress before the GM waived us past, our stealth mission thoroughly foiled.

The combats in Poisonous Council were fun, if not a little bland, and enemies did not seem to utilize a variety of tactics. Likewise, the combat maps were rather unexpressed and lacked interesting choices. Mostly it was just "run at guy, hit guy with sword" or "shoot spell at guy." Standard stuff, fun perhaps, but not as engaging as other scenarios might be.

In the end, unfortunately Poisonous Council is weighed down by its utilization of clunky subsystems as a means to move the plot forward. What is left, while fun, is not memorable or rewarding. I am certain that in the hands of a expert GM with significant preparation, it would be a fun and interesting story to tell with the correct group of PCs. But the time and care needed to make this scenario run smoothly is perhaps beyond what most table GMs are able to commit.

I will say that Poisonous Council is ambitious in that it is different and paints its characters in various shades of gray, as is befitting of the now alignment-less Pathfinder campaign setting. The idea of aligning with an assassin's guild in the name of keeping Pathfinder agents safe is an interesting one, and can make for an interesting story. Unfortunately, Poisonous Council is a bit too muddled of a concoction to achieve the delicate narrative it sought to craft, even for narrative-driven players such as myself. Unless you're a fan of the River Kingdoms or Daggermark, I would give this scenario a pass.

I played in a low-tier game at max CP with the 5 player adjustment. After play, I also read through the scenario.

The Devil-Wrought Disappearance, by Joseph Blomquist, is a mystery-thriller set in Cheliax that brings the PCs into a story involving perhaps one of Pathfinder’s most famous NPCs, Varian Jeggare. Tasked with investigating the holmesian wizard’s disappearance, the PCs travel to Cheliax where they must engage in a game of cloak and daggers to remain undetected in a nation that forbids their presence.

The scenario has a great set-up and premise, but is ultimately undercut by some of its shakier design choices. The narrative is tight, and flows nicely, but does force combat at some points (not quite Chandler’s law, but close). Otherwise it provides plenty of opportunities for stealth and guile, and accounts for multiple possible courses of action the PCs might take in the final set piece.

Getting into the moving parts, the first weakness is the opening skill challenge which my group failed despite multiple critical successes. The GM also missed some of the text in the encounter, which probably made it harder than it otherwise should have been. While there is still a way to “fail forward” through the encounter, it is also tied to the secondary success condition which makes missing this challenge rather punishing for Lore-deprived groups.

The combat encounters in the scenario are, for the most part, fine, if not a little on the blander side of things without a lot of room for interesting tactics. There is one encounter in particular I thought was poorly designed, as it features enemies that are notorious for punching above their weight class, but not in a way that is fun or interactive.

Overall the scenario was fun, but frustrating in parts, and reads more like a spy thriller in the vein of James Bond where there’s some sneaking and espionage, and then a lot of fist fights. It’s fun and thoughtful, and uses well-established characters well, but poor design choices in some of its more technical aspects keep it from being great. I would definitely recommend it, but be sure to pack a few extra elixirs of life before setting off.

I GMed Boom-Block Gambit at GenCon for three groups at high tier, mostly a mix of pregens and player-characters.

A scenario for level 5-8 PCs set aboard Absalom Station and written by Lysle Kapp, Boom-Block Gambit sees a group of Starfinders overseeing the closure of the infamous Adamantine Bastille and the transfer of its remaining prisoners. But what begins as a routine patrol assignments ends rather explosively and kicks-off a fun and challenging adventure, and serves as the baseboard for a greater conspiracy yet to be revealed.

Boom-Block Gambit is a standout scenario in terms of its pacing and organization. A story with a significant number of moving parts for the GM, the scenario organizes the information well and presents it in manageable chunks. It even provides information on what to do if the party splits-up during the first act, a realistic idea in the circumstances of the adventure but often a poor decision in TTRPGs. This advice keeps the two encounters the PCs face challenging, yet winnable, and one of my groups was able to successfully split the party and emerge victorious.

While Boom-Block Gambit focuses on the action, it does have roleplaying-investigation segments as well that do a good job providing clues in a logical fashion. I would say that one of the investigations does take too long on providing the PCs information that would pique their interests without some narrative hand-waving or flat-out telling the PCs to dig deeper, but otherwise the clues are well-paced.

The weakest part of Boom-Block Gambit is probably its roleplaying, as the scenario does little to define the personalities or motivations of its PCs. While this is a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things, I would have found it helpful had I been given a blurb on each prisoner that would serve as a cue for how to roleplay them.

Overall, Boom-Block Gambit is an exciting starting point to a larger narrative, and would also work well as an adventure in a home Starfinder campaign (with some modifications, of course, but there is hardly a shortage of dangerous criminals in the galaxy or prisons to hold them). GMs would be advised to prepare a bit in advance as the scenario has a number of moving parts, and may require some gap-filling for more roleplaying-oriented groups to flesh-out some of the NPCs. When executed well, however, Boom-Block Gambit proves to be memorable and entertaining. I would definitely recommend Boom-Block Gambit, especially if your group is looking for an action-packed scenario with a dash of mystery and intrigue.

I played this scenario in high tier with a party of level 9 characters.

Breaking the Storm: Excising Ruin is the first entry into the 7th to 10th-level range for Pathfinder Society Second Edition and promises a climactic confrontation with the fiendish force that has stolen one of the Society’s leaders and taunted its agents throughout the season. Unfortunately, the overall presentation falls somewhat flat as the entirety of the scenario takes place on a single custom map and does not seem to possess the gravitas necessary to give its scenes any weight.

Mechanically, Excising Ruin is competent. While it does require the GM to remember and track ambient weather effects, there are not so many moving parts as to make encounters cumbersome. Combats, likewise, flow together rather smoothly and enemy types are varied enough to keep things relatively interesting. There is a good balance of combat, skill challenges, and traps that should appeal to most group compositions.

The scenario’s most interesting mechanic is its Aspiration Points, a limited resource the PCs can use to even the odds in certain situations. Some options to use aspiration points arise based on your past adventures in Season 2, however it doesn’t unnecessarily punish you if you haven’t played much of the metaplot.

The scenario’s weaknesses are its theming and narrative. While combats are varied, the enemies’ present in them feel like they were thrown in to meet an XP budget, rather than being the most thematically appropriate enemy for the scene (it is not like their presence is without merit or logic, however it doesn’t always feel like the “best” fit). Likewise, some of the hazards felt oddly dangerous in a way that didn’t seem to track thematically.

Much of the scenario’s story can be best described as “go here, do this” and I never really felt any buy-in to the narrative. The villain’s actions, although central to the plot, are never the focus of the storytelling, and even in places where attention is drawn to them, the details are more of a footnote than a sweeping revelation. In a similar vein, the narrative stakes are frequently conveyed through exposition.

Overall, Breaking the Storm: Excising Ruin is a beer-and-pretzels scenario--a combat-focused storyline that doesn’t require too much focus or attention and still manages to be entertaining. However for those looking for more substance out of a first half of the metaplot’s conclusion, it can leave you feeling a bit disappointed. I would liken it to a blockbuster movie: Exciting and entertaining, but perhaps lacking some nuance. If you’re looking for a fun combat scenario to kick off the finale of your seasonal metaplot, definitely give this one a look. After all, who can say “no” to a good popcorn flick?

I GM'ed this for a high-tier table.

Precious Cargo is a tier 1-4 scenario that engages with a well-trodden but interesting concept in Sci-Fi: The concept of artificial intelligence. Set aboard an automated cargo freighter, the scenario offers a heartfelt and poignant story that is left open-ended enough that groups do not feel rail-roaded toward a particular conclusion. As much of the scenario’s strengths are roleplay-based, it would be impossible to discuss them in details for risk of spoilers. That said, the antagonist of the story is an interesting and sympathetic one, which I very much enjoyed playing.

Mechanically, Precious Cargo is a mixed bag. Although the rules are fairly straightforward, several situations possess murky details about how to resolve them. Furthermore, the flip mats selected for the combat encounters do not feel as well-matched to the scenes as they could have been, and a general lack of direction about where characters should begin, and where NPCs should appear, makes setting scenes difficult. That said, the combat encounters are well-designed and imaginative, easy to scale, and fun to narrate. Better still, each encounter has multiple ways to resolve it, which rewards clever or thoughtful groups.

Overall, Precious Cargo is a fun, if somewhat quick, scenario that works equally as well as a set piece or side story in a larger campaign (such as the Fly Free or Die adventure path). Sci-Fi enthusiasts will enjoy this telling of a familiar story, and some players may just enjoy the opportunity to punch a finicky 3D printer shooting junk at them.

Continuing the Season 2 metaplot, Breaking the Storm: Bastion in Embers is meant to follow the events and revelations of Fanciful March of Urwal, as the Pathfinder Society seeks to rescue one of its own from a dark fate. Unfortunately, Bastion in Embers doesn’t advance the story very far and serves as more of a “big battle” scene, much in the same way the Battle of Helm’s Deep filled space in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

There is nothing inherently wrong with combat-heavy scenarios. Pathfinder Society is written to appeal broadly to general audiences, and different players derive enjoyment from PF2E in different ways. Players who enjoy the chess match that PF2E combat offers will find the initial pair of combats in this adventure satisfying. The scenario rewards players who are able to plan and control the battlefield efficiently, although the large number of enemies and their relative bulk means that these two combats do tend to drag on (it took us around 2 hours to complete part 1, forcing the GM to handwave the second half in order to finish the scenario within its allotted convention slot).

Unfortunately what tactical interest the scenario offers all-but-disappears in the third encounter, which uses a map that offers little room to maneuver and little cover for players. The combat felt like it devolved into a shooting gallery for the enemies as we struggled to maneuver through the narrow safe spaces the encounter afforded us. While this encounter might have been salvaged with additional terrain features or opportunities for counterplay, the end result was mostly just frustration. As one of the players in my group put it: “This map almost made me quit Pathfinder 2E.”

Narratively, Bastion in Embers struggles to create a clear throughline to the season’s metaplot. It’s not clear why the villain is attacking the Farheaven Clan, unless the villain also happens to know exactly what the players learned in The Fanciful March of Urwal. Furthermore, the villain’s ploy in the second act has unclear consequences and leaves the players to guess what they must prioritize.

Where Bastion in Embers does succeed with its narrative is creating a sense of narrative urgency through its time pressure mechanics. By limiting the amount of time players have throughout the scenario, it evokes a siege mentality that emphasizes resource management, and also makes time itself a resource that must be managed (often parties will spend hours in-game after combats healing back to full).

Ultimately, Bastion in Embers is a scenario that aspires to offer mechanically nuanced, interesting combats in order to define and resolve its dramatic question. Will the Society be able to rescue their longtime allies from the threat of a demonic siege, or will their strongest agents perish in the attempt and, with them, the chance to save their lost friend? Unfortunately the scenario bites off more than it can chew and trades too much combat for too much narrative, leaving the end result something of a narrative and mechanical mess.

If you enjoy different, lengthy combats and advanced tactics, Bastion in Embers will be right up your ally as long as you can stay on top of the scenario mechanics. If you prefer more roleplay-heavy scenes that focus on talking and investigation, perhaps this scenario is not the best fit for your playstyle.

A Frosty Mug is a tier 5-8 scenario set in the frigid land of Irrisen that is brimming with flavor, character, and heart. There are not enough nice things that I can say about the way this scenario approaches its themes, narrative, and characters, but I will certainly try.

From a technical perspective, A Frosty Mug has plenty of opportunities for diplomats, warriors, and skill monkeys to each excel in their respective roles. Most encounters present more than one way to resolve the dramatic tension of the scene, and really emphasizes the party’s ability to roleplay and seek nonviolent (or mostly nonviolent) resolutions to conflict. Of course, for groups that are looking for a fight (despite the call of the scenario being a peaceful mission), there is plenty to challenge and intrigue tactically-minded players.

Where A Frosty Mug really shines, however, is its cast of colorful characters. Each NPC the PCs interact with, no matter how minor, feels unique and memorable. Many of the more important characters possess just enough nuance to make them interesting, without being bogged down in unnecessary detail or exposition. As a consequence, there is plenty of room for the PCs to roleplay, and the quieter scenes in the scenario could easily make the scenario play out for much longer than its allotted 4-5 hour time slot.

Overall, A Frosty Mug is overflowing with color and character that gives the players the rare opportunity to leave a new land better than how they found it. I look forward to seeing more adventures set in Irrisen, if only so we can check back in on the characters and how they are fairing.

3-04 Falling into Deliverance is a tier 5-8 scenario set on a space station orbiting a magical gas giant. It is a well-paced, narratively tight, and masterfully atmospheric adventure that provides players with plenty of opportunities to flex their lateral-thinking and problem-solving skills in order to overcome the scenario’s challenges.

Narratively, falling into Deliverance excels through the way it builds narrative tension throughout the scenario. Good horror, like any good writing, is reliant on build-up and pay-offs, and Compton executes the slow boil of dread perfectly through his use of description and atmosphere. The tensions come to a head in the scenario’s final act, where the PCs answer the dramatic question of what happened to the space station and make their desperate escape.

Where Falling into Deliverance could be better is in its organization and presentation of information to the GM. The scenario makes use of terrain features to build narrative tension, but it is unclear on the map where exactly these terrain features are. Furthermore, the area labelling does not necessarily reflect the route that all groups might take through the station, and some groups might bypass a huge swath of the map entirely with the correct skill load-outs.

However, even with a quick-moving and well-equipped party, the players were intrigued and challenged by the scenario’s combats and hazards. In one encounter the group even developed novel tactics on the fly to combat the enemy’s unique nature in an excellent demonstration of coordination and teamwork.

Overall, Falling into Deliverance is an excellent scenario with a well-paced, thought-out narrative arc that makes the most of the science-fantasy setting of Starfinder. I would definitely recommend it and run it again, if only to see how different groups react to the challenges and terrors set before them.

I GMed 3-20 for a low-tier group of four players.

Everchanging Revelation is the first level 11-14 adventure in Starfinder Society intended to conclude the Fleeting Truth metaplot with a triumphant flourish. Set on the alien and hitherto unexplored (at least within Society play) Aucturn, the scenario challenges the PCs to a race against the clock to rescue the third and final data shard from a fanatical group of Hellknights hellbent on its destruction. While the scenario has a lot going for it on paper to provide a climactic and satisfying third act to the Fleeting Truth metaplot, in practice it lands with little more than a dull thud, and left a bad taste in the mouths of my players.

On a technical level, Everchanging Revelations is interesting in that it introduces a harsh and challenging environment with which high-level Starfinders must contend: the toxic and high-gravity world of Aucturn. Although their environmental protections and liberal applications of life bubble will shelter explorers from some of the planet’s hazards, the world’s high gravity environment still provides a difficult challenge to well-equipped high-level characters, effectively draining their available resources unless they possess niche abilities that make those choices feel worthwhile. Furthermore, the high gravity environment does not provide too much additional bookkeeping for the GM, although they may have to remind players from time to time about the movement restrictions imposed upon them.

Unfortunately, whatever merit the scenario earns for its choice of environment is ultimately marred by its poor encounter and map design, and lack of important details. The maps are, for the most part, rather cramped and small, and do not accommodate large-sized player characters. Furthermore, certain encounters are all described taking place within a single map, which does not seem to track with the descriptive text within the scenario. Compounding matters, there is little information about the vertical dimensions of the maps or their light levels, requiring GMs to ad hoc environmental details and leading to inconsistent experiences for play groups.

Further, one of the earlier encounters makes several assumptions about group composition and resource availability that may not universally hold true. While it is understandable that high-level Starfinders should, on some level, be expected to anticipate certain threats, it does not make for a pleasurable play experience when the party struggles against an impassable obstacle.

The scenario recovers from its initial fumble somewhat with its final encounter, as its various mechanics and hazards provide ample space for players to utilize solid tactics and counterplay. Further, the considerations built into the scenario’s second half provide an interesting decision point for the PCs and reward appropriate conservation of character resources. It also make for an interesting call back to the first scenario in the metaplot where the PCs had to manage their time and resources appropriately as well.

Where Everchanging Revelation really seems to struggle is its narrative. Intended as the third act in which the dramatic question of the Fleeting Truth is answered, it turns out that the answer to the question posed is rather dull. The scenario seems to lack an appropriate sense of scale for a high level game, and could as easily be told at the 3-6 tier as the 11-14 tier, save for the particular enemies the PCs face.

The trouble stems from the narrative structure of Fleeting Truth as a whole. The metaplot cannot decide whether it wants to be a grand race-to-the-finish style quest, or a tense shadow war of cloaks and daggers. Indeed, it often tries to be both at the same time, often with mixed results. The overall consequence is that the players’ clandestine-yet-significant mission lacks a sense of narrative gravitas. The players are told what they are doing is all-important, but at no point during the plotline is that ever visibly enforced. The cost of failure is lost data, but it is never assigned a real, tangible cost that the players can know and understand.

Overall, Everchanging Revelation feels like a rushed conclusion to a story that stumbles on both its narrative and technical execution. That said, the scenario still manages to provide high level characters with interesting and unique challenges that will certainly provide satisfaction to tactically-minded groups. If you are looking for tough combats and Gigeresque worlds, or if you are just looking to stretch your 13th-level character’s legs, then this scenario might be for you.

The premise of Devil at the Crossroads is reminiscent of a teen horror movie. A group of friends, or acquaintances, or even strangers converge on a location with a dark and mysterious past. They awaken an evil force, and must struggle to survive until daylight. But where Devil at the Crossroads deviates from the formula is what really sets it apart as a scenario--both to its benefit and its detriment.

Devil at the Crossroads is not a horror, however, but a thriller, combining elements of a murder mystery and a supernatural thriller to produce a uniquely Pathfinder experience that is both memorable and well-paced. The story, which takes place mostly at a trading post in the middle of the wilderness, is accented by a cast of colorful and unique NPCs, each with their own motivations and secrets.

The non-player character cast of the scenario is one of its strengths. The GM is provided with enough detail on each NPC to make them “pop,” but not overburdened by minutiae or excessive backstory. Each character has a distinct, and colorful, personality and set of quirks, but also enough blank space to let the GM really make the characters their own.

In addition to the central mystery of the story, each NPC has a secret motive that will drive their interactions with the player characters. Unfortunately, most of these motives cause the NPCs to remain close to the party during the “haunting,” so most of their behavior (especially during combat) is standing around and looking pretty (or hiding behind things and shouting commands to the PCs along the lines of “kill it!”).

Combat is probably the greatest weakness of Devil at the Crossroads. Of the combat encounters within the scenario, one adds nothing to the story, another is cumbersome to run, and a third is what makes this scenario somewhat infamous amongst players.

Overall, Devil at the Crossroads deserves its reputation--both for its entertaining story premise and its unforgivingly difficult encounters. When taken with the fact it has very little luck-gated treasure (although there are still some treasure bundles gated behind arbitrary skill checks), the decision whether or not to play or run Devil at the Crossroads depends on how much your players see randomness in combat as a “challenge” (or whether they’re willing to overlook an unfair fight for the sake of an otherwise solid narrative).

Personally, I would recommend this scenario. I really like the premise and design, even over some of the rougher combat encounters and poor map choices. It has a lot of room for roleplay, but moves quickly enough to never lose the plot. My one recommendation is to also roleplay your villains. Once you see the encounter I’m talking about, you’ll know what I mean.

Written by society veteran Eleanor Ferron, Grim Symphony is an amusing and odd, yet paradoxically straightforward, adventure. Set in Ustalav, Grim Symphony is fully aware of its gothic horror themes, but eschews the horror in favor of a more whimsical tone. You could also call it gothic comedy, if such a thing existed, since the adventure thrives not on a sense of foreboding, but strangeness. Whereas other authors might have channeled horror classics such as Dracula or Frankenstein, Ferron instead invokes Young Frankenstein--right down to a not-so-subtle Igor (pronounced “Eye-gore”) reference.

Grim Symphony’s strength lies in its creative writing and interesting encounter design. While the scenario does not offer much in the way of skill challenges or extensive roleplaying, it does provide a variety of interesting combats that are as much a puzzle as a swordfight. Each combat has its own unique hazards and dangers in addition to enemy combatants that must be addressed, making for a series of engaging set pieces that really emphasize the weird science of the scenario.

Each set piece by itself is creative and unique. When played together, however, often with little buffer in-between, the emerging story becomes repetitive. Fight the monster, deal with the trap, find the door to the next zone, repeat. The adventure settles into a gameplay loop which is ill-suited to the collaborative storytelling exercise that is tabletop roleplaying, and could have benefited from a little more diversity between its scenes.

If there is a word to describe Grim Symphony, it’s “clever.” The setting, likely inspired by the Winchester Mansion, is clever. The encounter designs, with their strange hazards and colorful characters and tactics, is also clever. The puzzles, some of which hide treasure bundles, are clever as well (and let you earn rewards through cleverness alone). The trouble is, because the scenario is clever all the time, it is also predictable.

Overall, Grim Symphony is a fun, if somewhat repetitive, scenario that presents a refreshing take on a popular fantasy adventure archetype. The expertise of both the designer and the author is on full display here, and the overall experience is certain to leave a lasting impression on most players. I would definitely recommend playing it.

I played this in low-tier.

The first scenario of Season 2 opens with a bang. Well, sort of.

Set in the relatively-unexplored region of Iobaria, the players are tasked with exploring Cyclopean ruins to learn more about the ancient civilization that once dwelled in that place. The focus of the story is decidedly research driven, and the PCs are tasked with mapping ruins, documenting their contents, and securing the area for less martially-inclined field scholars.

To this end there are a lot of skill checks in this scenario. A lot of skill checks. This is both to its benefit--the skill challenges, despite being numerous are relatively forgiving--and also to its detriment. In fact, mostly to its detriment.

While Citadel of Corruption manages to throw skill encounters at the players and be less punishing than those seen in Season 1, the draw back is that there is a lot of dice rolling for very little reward. Each site the PCs explore offers a variety of skill checks to attempt, but success yields only a modest amount of information and poses no risks for failure (other than disappointing the Decemvirate). It is the definition of dice-rolling as busy work.

Nowhere is the drudgery of dice rolling more apparent than the scenario’s use of the Research subsystem (one of the many optional rules systems from the Gamemastery Guide). The research scene was an extraordinarily tedious affair described by our GM as “pulling teeth.” The skill DCs were overtuned, either too easy if you had the appropriate Lore skill, or too hard if you had anything else. Most DCs would require substantial luck for most 1st and 2nd-level PCs to achieve.

Unfortunately, time-wasting dice rolling isn’t the only problem this scenario has. The combats are ill-adjusted as well. My group was mostly 1st and 2nd level characters, with my 3rd level ranger basically babysitting the group, and because of this some of the encounters were extraordinarily brutal.

The overall effect of the scenario for me was to swing from trivial to unfair, and back again. Combined with some luck-gated treasure bundles and just bad luck, the scenario left me wishing I’d played something different.

To wrap up this review, I feel that I should say that Citadel of Corruption dared to try something a little different. In presenting the PCs with a more research-oriented mission, it sought to allow PCs to leverage skills--especially Lores--that might not otherwise come up. This is a good thing, and I should like to see more scenarios provide opportunities for characters to express themselves outside of combat or diplomacy. However, because of the haphazard arrangement of skill challenges, and the tedium of the research encounter, I cannot recommend this scenario unless you’re looking to check off the metaplot boxes.

I GM’ed this for high tier.

1-17 The Perennial Crown Part 2: The Thorned Monarch is the second-half of the Perennial Crown mini campaign, written by Alexander Augunas. It is the climactic second act of the campaign, where the PCs must rescue themselves, and innocent bystanders, from the thousand-year-old machinations of the season’s recently-revealed villain.

However, if 1-16 could be called a strong start replete with interesting opportunities to explore Bhopan’s culture and people, 1-17 is something of a shaky finish packed with combat and skill challenges, and very little time to breathe or think.

Part of this is by design. The narrative demands a sense of rising tension leading to the dramatic showdown with the scenario’s villain. In this sense, the constant state of urgency is expressed rather well. Limiting opportunities to rest and recover, and throwing PCs from skill challenge to encounter, or encounter to skill challenge, certainly adds a sense of drama and tension. There is a desperation present, a notion that the PCs have stumbled across something they cannot possibly defeat, and now they must rescue themselves and their allies from danger before everything is lost.

Furthermore, the scenario introduces consequences to what the PCs have done in Act 1. Although the PCs were offered the opportunity to earn advantages in their efforts there, those advantages come with a price that is paid in Act 2. I appreciate the effort to mechanically tie consequences into the narrative, although I will touch on why this doesn’t work out very well later. For now, let me just say that I commend the effort and would like to see more multipart stories try to do this.

Now, onto the challenges. The scenario opens with a series of skill challenges which I am, honestly, not a fan of. These skill challenges present no interesting choices to the players and feel like they exist to fill time. Moreover, they punish groups for being unlucky, taking away treasure for no discernable reason. There is no sense of consequence for failing these checks. You had to make them, you failed, and you were punished by narrative fiat. It would be far better, I think, to present the PCs with interesting decisions that force them to weigh risk and reward. Exploring a side tunnel might unearth interesting treasure, or it might expose them to mind-corrupting fungi. Or both. But the current skill challenge paradigm just doesn’t work for telling a good story--it’s just giving players a reason to roll dice.

After the challenge are a series of combats. Neither are particularly noteworthy, but are designed with enough tactical interest to keep players engaged. My party, a group of four martial classes and two clerics, definitely took a beating in some places, but always managed to clinch victory in the end without much risk of a TPK.

Then comes the chase. As with 1-16’s debut of the Infiltration rules, 1-17 serves as an introduction to chases. However, the PCs are not the pursuers in this particular chase, but the pursued, fleeing a foe they cannot hope to defeat. In a sense I rather enjoy this as a way to urge PCs to run away and, like 1-16, the chase rules are light-weight and comprehensive enough to easily explain.

If I did have one objection, however, it would again refer to the way the scenario’s reward scheme is structured. If you do not perform perfectly in the chase--including multiple critical successes--you won’t get the treasure. Simple as that. Personally, I think this isn’t a very interesting situation and would rather have tempted players with the treasure, even though their foe was close behind them. Going back to my emphasis on consequences and choice, having the players leave the treasure behind because they chose safety over danger (at least this once) feels a bit more fair than simply saying “well you barely made it back, so you missed out.”

But let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Something you're probably aware of if you've talked to others about this scenario, or read other reviews. If the Grand Dance was the setpiece of Part 1, the climactic conclusion with a huge monster definitely the highlight of Part 2, and also where the PCs learn their previous choices carry dire consequences. Or so it would seem.

Here’s the problem--and stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers--the final fight is just too damn hard. Yes, the villain is dramatic and powerful and, quite frankly, terrifying. The players in my group felt a real, visceral fear in fighting this thing, and collectively breathed a sigh of relief when they finally defeated it. The victory was hard-won, but that had more to do with luck than anything else. I will explain.

When it comes to encounter design, I would ask authors and designers to reconsider the “big boss” paradigm. Although such foes do add a sense of grandiosity and scale to a storyline, they are also extraordinarily frustrating encounters for unlucky groups, who often feel like their poor performance is due to bad rolls rather than bad tactics. Indeed, my party executed rather clever strategies against this foe, but still felt stymied by a rash of bad luck and low rolls. Furthermore, the foe’s massive crit rate made the combat feel extraordinarily swingy, and left most players feeling bitter during the combat’s low point.

1-17 is an ambitious scenario that attempts to provide a tense and dramatic conclusion to the rising action of 1-16. However several flaws in the scenario’s design detract from the otherwise excellent atmosphere developed by the mechanics and narrative. 1-17 might have been one of my favorite scenarios, with one of my favorite fights, had it not felt unbalanced against the players.

In the end, I still recommend 1-17 as a scenario, since I think it provides a good bookend to the story established in 1-16, and the boon isn’t too bad. However, I would caution players going into it that the scenario is going to be a hard one, because unless they are very lucky they are going to suffer, and they will need to find success in failure. Because sometimes, as Pathfinders, getting out alive is reward enough.

I GM'ed this for low-tier.

1-16 The Perennial Crown Part 1: Opal of Bhopan, written by Thilo Graf, is the first of a two-part adventure which takes players to the far off mysterious land of Bhopan, following in the footsteps of Selmius Foster, one of the Pathfinder Society’s founding members. Throughout the adventure players encounter bloodthirsty fey, Bhopanese high society, and plenty of courtly intrigue.

Let me start by saying that I really enjoy how Bhopan’s culture is presented and explained. Customs are shown, and only explained if the PCs ask their hosts what they mean. PCs are encouraged, through both description and mechanics, to observe, understand, and respect the customs and norms of Bhopanese culture.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed the antagonist in Opal of Bhopan. Their motivations felt nuanced and interesting, far more than some wicked plot to do something evil. Sadly there are not many other characters for the villain to play off of, so the roleplaying burden must be picked up by the players when interacting with the villain and other Bhopanese civilians.

Actually, that is one of my first complaints about the scenario. As rich and interesting as Bhopanese culture is, the PCs do not have much room to explore it. Rather, they are whisked away to a grand gala after an abstracted Gather Information check that provides information only on Selmius Foster and not more about their complex host society. The scenario would have been well-served with a few additional personalities the PCs could interact with in order to gain a more complete understanding of Bhopan and its people. I suspect this would push an already long scenario into overtime, so I understand why such content might not have made the final editing pass.

On to the set piece: The masquerade. This is the main event of the scenario and is also Pathfinder Society’s first use of the infiltration rules presented in the Gamemastery Guide. It is a rather exquisite set piece that really has a sense of spectacle. The challenges are varied and interesting, and the obstacles are lightweight enough to explain to the players in a sentence or two. This is certainly a sequence that requires heavy preparation from the GM, however, as much of the scenery and behavior of masquerade-goers is left to the GM’s imagination.

But masquerade is not the only challenge that the PCs must overcome. There is also an ingenious puzzle-trap that is excellently cued by hints provided throughout the scenario. I was happy to watch the PCs engage with the puzzle and solve it on their own, although I thought the scenario could have done with a bit more guidance on the types of hints the GM is allowed to provide. A few bullet points or example sentences would not have gone amiss.

Not every challenge in the adventure is particularly interesting, however. I found both combats to be rather pedestrian encounters that did not really challenge the PCs. This might have been due to the martial-heavy composition that played in my game, but in general enemies didn’t present many tactically-interesting decisions.

I should also briefly mention the skill challenges, since this is something of a soapbox of mine. Skill challenges are probably my least favorite convention of Pathfinder Society 2 scenarios. Most skill challenges mandate that each PC rolls one of three checks, and if PCs don’t score a number of successes equal to half the party, they suffer a penalty and miss out on treasure. These types of challenges don’t offer the PCs any interesting decisions, and often feel like they’re intended to keep players from becoming bored by rolling dice. Furthermore, I think removing treasure bundles for bad rolls here feels a bit punitive, and it would make more sense to me to place treasure behind a more nuanced risk-reward calculation. Rather than earning a trinket with enough good rolls, ask the players to consider whether or not looting the gold amulet from that skeleton under the tree is worth it. This would make for a far more interesting situation, and give the players some sense of agency should they fail to secure the treasure or suffer the consequences of their actions.

Overall, I think 1-16 The Perennial Crown Part 1: Opal of Bhopan is an good roleplaying scenario for PCs looking to engage with new people and learn about their culture. Good, but not great. To really satisfy, the scenario needed more. More description, more characters, and more artwork. Especially more artwork. As a predominantly online GM, I like to give my PCs a face to the name, and sometimes Google Image Search isn’t the best source for “dog-faced mwangi women dressed in thornmail” or “giant jungle flower city.”

I would recommend 1-16 The Perennial Crown Part 1: Opal of Bhopan, as I found it interesting, engaging, and entertaining. You can tell that it is a well-written scenario in terms of balance and challenge because my party, an unbalanced team of two fighters, two clerics, one barbarian, and one redeemer, did just fine in most of their encounters and were ultimately able to overcome the obstacles in their way (although with perhaps a little less grace and tact than some groups). The players loved the masquerade, and they loved the opportunity to learn about Bhopan and show their respect for its traditions. I had fun and my players had fun which, in the end, is the most I can ask of a Pathfinder Society scenario. Definitely play it at least once.

I GMed this for 9-10 subtier.

With a title like “Cornered Rat,” you would expect the final scenario of Season 2: Year of a Thousand Bites to be a bombastic and explosive affair that sends First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo off with applause. However, despite the scenario’s drama and panache, written by Starfinder veteran Mikko Kallio, it fails to make a lasting impact.

Mechanically, Cornered Rat is a serviceable scenario. Nothing is particularly noteworthy or impressive, but the various encounters flow into each other well, and the challenges are varied and interesting. The starship combat includes elements of tactical interest, the time pressure on the base raid adds an element of narrative urgency, and the final encounter has an appropriate grandiosity to it. Indeed, the final fight is rather fun on both sides of the screen, and the foes have a number of unique and interesting mechanics. The scenario’s mechanics are not without their faults, however, and I found the middle section rather confusing and difficult to understand. Navigating the enemy’s base could have been explained more clearly, and aided by a map that wasn’t so zoomed out or difficult to read.

Where Cornered Rat really encounters issues, however, is its storytelling. Cornered Rat is intended to be the final mission for First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo, the last hooray to vanquish the foe that threatens the Starfinder Society that she and her allies rescued from the brink of destruction. However, barring a few dramatic flourishes at the beginning and the end, very little of Elsebo or her quarry makes an appearance in Cornered Rat. Indeed, the scenario doesn’t even end with the PCs thwarting their foe, which feels like it deprives characters deeply invested in the Season 2 storyline a substantial story opportunity.

Unfortunately for Cornered Rat, it endeavors to tie up a weak storyline, so its narrative suffers as a result. Season 2 began with an interesting premise, but too much of the mystery lay unrevealed until the final act. It is somewhat disappointing that we only now learn the shape of Datch’s plan and her motivations, when such narrative elements might have been hinted at or referenced throughout the Season 2 story.

Here’s the thing: Had Cornered Rat simply been a standalone scenario, it would be fine. Had it been the conclusion to a short metaplot where the foe was set-up, revealed, and thwarted, it would be fine. However, it is the conclusion of not one, but two storylines, and the lack of a strong resolution for either of them causes the emotional impact of the scenario to land with a thud. Overall Cornered Rat is a middle-of-the road scenario. It's no Bluerise Breakout, but it's not Many Minds of Historia, either. If you like interesting combat, I'd definitely give it a whirl. If story's more your thing, I wouldn't recommend it.

I GM'ed this for both high- and low-tier tables.

When I first read the description for Truth Keepers I was apprehensive. "A terrorist attack on Absalom Station takes a crew of Starfinders to the heart of the Veskarium." I was concerned that this would be yet another ploy by everyone's Public Enemy Number One, a certain white-furred ysoki whose paw prints could, so far, be found over most scenarios in Season 2.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find Truth Keepers was its own self-contained story. Better yet, it was a self-contained story with a tremendous amount of heart!

The scenario's introduction is a paradox--it is both unorthodox, yet classical. You find yourself at a bar, rather than the briefing rooms most scenarios start out in. Players seemed to enjoy being given the opportunity to imagine their characters' normal after-work personas, gravitating toward things they think their characters would do or enjoy after a long day of, well, Starfindering.

That peace (and also a window) is shattered by the call to adventure, which most characters quickly seize upon diving into a combat to support one of three charming NPCs, each with unique abilities and personalities (one of my groups especially loved Toast, who shouted words of encouragement from behind her makeshift barricade).

The scenario doesn't lose any of its personality once the mission gets underway, with Venture-Captain Naiaj trusting the PCs to undertake a quasi-legal operation in the Veskarium under the supervision of an old friend. The investigation is both lightweight and varied, and no two groups I've run the table for have selected the same investigative routes twice. There's a lot of fun to be had with each lead, and players are genuinely charmed by the variety of characters and personalities they encounter during their mission.

The final act of the scenario is, perhaps, the weakest, because it involves the most combat. In most cases, enemies have no tactics, leaving it up to the GM to divine how they prioritize targets or engage threats. Likewise, PCs who do not adequately explore their environments may end up fighting a battle on two-fronts, a scenario that nearly killed one of the PCs at my table (he was left with 0 hit points and 0 resolve at the end of the mission). Even then, players were thrilled by the foes they encountered (particularly one well-timed callback) and generally enjoyed themselves.

The reason why I give this scenario four stars instead of five, however, is that there were several important details that were lost during editing and not put back before the scenario went to print. One encounter gives varying information on how many enemies are present. One encounter omits mechanics for an ally's abilities. One map is oriented incorrectly, confusing the PCs about their exploration choices.

Overall, I would say that Natalie Kertzner & John Curtin put together an impressive repeatable that I will probably not tire of running anytime soon. The scenario's clever writing, fun characters, and lightweight mechanics made it an instant favorite, and I hope to continue to see scenarios of this quality in the future.

I GM'ed this scenario.

Rasheen's Reception is the much-anticipated sequel to the Season 1 mission "Rasheen's Riches," and was certainly high on my "to run" list as a metaplot aficionado. However, while the scenario contains a variety of colorful characters and interesting locales, the overall effect falls flat of my initial expectations.

The problem is that Rasheen's Reception takes way too long to get going, positioning much of the action behind a lengthy social encounter that, while important, feels more like reading three news articles or global politics than introducing themes and concepts that will be brought up later in the story.

Full disclosure: I love the slowly building conflict between the Marixah Republic and the Gideron Authority. The political tension described throughout the scenario feels real. NPC characters have varied and diverse viewpoints on issues affecting them, and while some felt a bit two-dimensional, others felt genuine.

Now, on to the guts of the scenario. The social encounter is fine. Nothing interesting or impressive mechanically, although as I mentioned previously I do rather enjoy the cast of characters Mara Lynn Butler has assembled for it. And while this encounter is an important and necessary step for an archaeological expedition, it also feels like something that could have been resolved off-screen, before the players even arrive planet-side.

The second act is likewise bland. The encounter map is oversized and unexpressed, with large rectangular rooms and corridors, and little in the way of set dressing. Where set dressing does present itself, it often does so in an inconsequential way. The exception to this is a rather interesting combat encounter that take advantage of the environment. Unfortunately the enemy's otherwise simple tactics, combined with the bare nature of the combat arena, made the fight rather simple once the initial environmental interaction was divined and addressed.

Overall, Rasheen's Reception feels like a bit of a letdown. The scenario brings forward none of the organizations that were introduced in Rasheen's Riches, effectively killing the idea that this is a galactic race for a hidden treasure. The metaplot has lost its sense of adventure and exchanged it for a very practical--yet narratively unnecessary--political drama.

Had this scenario been part of another story, I might have awarded it 3 stars instead of 2. However, even then its faults are still apparent: Uninteresting exploration and mostly bland combat coupled with exhaustive exposition that might have been better shown--or broken-up piecemeal and distributed across several scenarios--than told all at once as it was.

Ultimately I am still invested in the Rasheen storyline and I'm excited to see where it goes next. Rasheen herself tantalizes us with a new and exotic destination, and I can't wait to set that course into the Vast!

Addendum: A point was raised to me after publishing this review that I feel I should also include here. The issue is with the half-page custom map the scenario uses. The map's scaling is visually confusing due to a grid-tile pattern within the map squares. This produces the impression that the map is larger than it is, as it is difficult to differentiate between tile and grid square. In the future, scenarios should avoid this kind of decoration unless the tile pattern is clearly distinct from the map grid.

I played this scenario at a low-tier table with a mixture of play levels. I also own the scenario.

Lions of Katapesh is a fun, quick scenario that seems to draw inspiration from the real life Tsavo Man-Eaters (something a player at the table quickly pointed out), but with a twist! The scenario's writing is at its best when playing with its goblin NPCs, who come off as two-dimensional caricatures, but are endearing regardless. Our GM also used some great accents to help each character stand out (which led to a great "what?" moment toward the end).

Overall, it's hard to point to any one part of the scenario that stands out. The combats aren't particularly hard, and the skill challenges aren't particularly challenging. They aren't easy and we definitely had some close scrapes, but nothing about these challenges were particularly memorable.

The scenario's faults, on the other hand, are more readily identifiable. Simply put: Lions of Katapesh suffers from poor design choices that hinder its challenge and engagement throughout the scenario. The issue begins with the initial skill challenge, which is also tied-in with the scenario's reward scheme. Without going into details, you want to do well early because you are rewarded for it later. This by itself is not particularly egregious. This appears to be the new normal for Pathfinder 2E rewards, and while I don't approve of what I refer to as "luck-gating" (gating treasure bundles behind doing well on skill checks rather than making meaningful in-game choices), at least this feels consistent and somewhat fair.

What makes this challenge problematic is that various events throughout the scenario can eat into your crop of successes, effectively diminishing successes without a way to build them back up. And while I could appreciate a mechanic like this if the party was undertaking a grueling or arduous task, but this is simply not the case. Many of us where surprised that there were no other options to claw some of our lost successes back, or perhaps even earn new opportunities to generate successes.

There are additional problems when it comes to the mechanics behind how you lose successes. While the scenario offers you choices for how to prevent these loses, they are effectively meaningless and do nothing. Our group immediately lost a success despite our best preparations, and unless the GM misread the encounter section, it does not seem like there was much more we could have done to prevent it--other than get lucky, of course.

The group's impression at the end of the scenario is that it was a fun, but punishing, repeatable, and that it was almost impossible to protect your accumulated successes without some incredible luck.

My own impression is similar. For all its humor and character, Lions of Katapesh lacks strong mechanics to stand on. Its encounters oscillate from bland to unfair, and its skill challenges are rather easy, yet constrained. Overall, I think it is a solid 3-stars. It's neither the worst scenario I've played, nor the best, but somewhere distinctly in the middle. However, with a bit of polish and playtesting it might have been a far more memorable and enjoyable experience.

I GMed this for a high-level table.

First, I want to start off by observing that Alex Greenshields and Michael Sayre certainly outdid themselves in creating an interesting and novel scenario. Set in the nation of Razmiran, the Pathfinder are tasked with establishing a new lodge at the invitation of an enigmatic member of the theocratic leadership of the country, and with recruiting allies to the Society from within the country itself. The story lends itself well to a sense of cloak-and-daggers, sussing out who amongst the villagers of Prophet's Rest is trustworthy, and who isn't. The slow burn of repairing the keep crescendos into an exciting third act that really lets the players reap the benefits of their careful work beforehand.

Where the scenario fails, however, is its obtuse, cumbersome keep repair system. While the rules were rather detailed, and deliciously nuanced, I found myself struggling to keep the group on track to finish in our four hour time slot. In the end, we ran an hour over, and even then I had to curtail a lot of roleplaying to get there.

This scenario definitely feels like it fits well into an adventure path, or another product where players can take their time and really get to know the cast of characters they are working with. Instead, I had to present summaries of information I would have rather revealed organically.

I am always happy to see new mechanics and new ideas in Society. I think it's important to keep things varied, so we don't just have to play or run linear dungeon crawl after linear dungeon crawl. However, I think this scenario was published before it's ready, and that the developers really need to reexamine its running time, or provide better tools for keeping it closer to the four-to-five hour time slot PFS2 scenarios are supposed to occupy.

Another problem I had with the scenario is its reward schemata. The scenario utilizes a design philosophy I dislike, which I refer to as "luck-gating," where you only receive treasure if you get lucky on a die roll. To me, there is no risk to these checks, so losing out on the treasure feels more like simply bad luck rather than some sort of calculated gamble. Furthermore, a significant amount of treasure is tied to an obscure sentence at the end of the scenario, and one that campaign management has not, as of the time of publishing this, deigned to clarify. Depending on clarifications I might restore a star to the scenario, but as it stands the overloaded nature of the scenario, combined with its rather unfavorable reward scheme, make it middle-of-the-road at best.

If you are looking for a different kind of adventure and don't mind running long or (potentially) missing out on a lot of gold, Lodge of the Living God is for you. If you're looking for a one-off story in your home campaign, definitely give this one a look. As for me, I think I'll hold off running it again for Society until we get some clarification on how that treasure works--lest my players revolt.

I played this scenario in high tier with a mix of level 3 and 4 characters.

The Blooming Catastrophe is a quirky, charming scenario with a number of interesting characters and humorous moments. The mission, which leads you into the fire-ravaged forest of Finadar at the behest of one of the Society's more enigmatic leaders. Beginning with only an obtuse letter and little else to go on, the adventure gallops off on a fun (and sometimes disturbing) romp into a land tainted by calamity.

One of my favorite moments during the game was that it gave us the ability to resolve a rather dangerous combat situation non-violently, but still made the interaction challenging and complex. We had to pick our words and shape our actions carefully as to not provoke the other party, and we were rewarded for our efforts with a new friend and ally.

I would complain that the combats felt a little too much on the easy side, but not enough to dock any points.

The reason why I give this scenario only 4 stars, however, has to do with its use of a design philosophy I refer to as "luck-gating," where treasure rewards are hidden behind skill checks. Failing to achieve a certain number of successes on these checks results in losing this treasure, and I've never been a fan of depriving characters of treasure for what essentially comes down to bad luck (compare this to combat, where PCs who survive combat despite bad luck feel rewarded). It would have been better to assign some element of risk to these otherwise missable rewards, so that players at least feel like missing the treasure was a repercussion of failure rather than just bad luck.

Overall: A fun scenario, but please stop luck-gating treasure bundles. Make me feel like I earned it, rather than lucked into it.

1-11 Flames of Rebellion

I played high tier with a mix of level 2, 3, and 4 characters, and I own the scenario with the intent to run it in the future.

1-11 is a classic dungeon crawl with a good amount of history and storytelling baked-in. It felt like a proper exploration, although I do wish we would've been given the opportunity to engage with the dungeon's inhabitants without immediately attempting to exterminate them. The dungeon itself was a bit linear, however this was alleviated by interesting challenges and traps. The diversity and creativity of the challenges, and the tactics of the enemies, fit together nicely to create a cohesive and believable experience. Furthermore, there is a unique encounter later in that really makes use of the Secret roll mechanic built-in to PF2E. Our party was actually split on how to approach the situation, since we had conflicting information, and without knowing who rolled high and who rolled low we simply had to come to a consensus.

Unfortunately, much of the enjoyment that is derived from 1-11 is marred by its final encounter. While authors and developers in PF2S have slowly been achieving an understanding of how to balance encounters for party sizes above four players, the final boss in this scenario is not an example of good encounter design or scaling. Quite the opposite. The scaling calls for increasing the enemy's numerical values, which is an extremely strong ability in Pathfinder 2nd Edition--implications I do not personally think the designers and authors fully grasp. Combined with a narrow and restrictive combat space, limited tactical choices, and some mistakes from the GM that gave the boss too many actions (a fact only made known on my own review of the scenario text), the fight sucks the oxygen out of the room as it drags on--mostly because it ties victory too much into good luck (most of us needed to roll a 15 or better to do anything against the enemy, while he only needed to roll a 5 or better against us).

It is my view that numerical adjustments to monsters to increase challenge does not, on a fundamental level, work with the way the game is played. The action economy is always going to be against the solo monster, so it is better not to have one-on-many boss fights in the first place. Some writers and designers comprehend this, adding minions or allies to the encounter with the "Big Bad Evil Guy" in order to adjust difficulty. Personally I think the same could have been done in this scenario, but the designers and writers choose to take a different approach and one that ultimately diminished the experience for myself and my fellow players.

Ultimately I enjoyed 1-11 and the challenges it offered. I am disappointed, however, that our final challenge managed to thoroughly suck the energy out of the room the way it did.

I GM'ed this in high tier (11-12).

Data Purge begins with an interesting premise. Opposed by a mysterious foe, and compromised from the inside, Starfinder leadership assembles a secret mission team to break into the Lorespire Complex and remove the enemy's intelligence-gathering apparatus. The mission might be thought of as a red team exercise--probing the defenses of the Society to determine its flaws and vulnerabilities. Like all missions, however, there is a twist--and quite a twist at that.

But beneath the pages of this four-to-five hour scenario (five, in my case) what we get is a series of vingettes rather than a fully fleshed-out infiltration. The scenes oscillate between fun and interesting combats to social encounters that feel a touch forced. The bigger problem here is a lack of perceived direction. I felt like I was leading my players by the nose for most of the scenario, telling them that "OK, here's where the map says to go next." An actual, physical map handout would have gone a long way to alleviate this, as the players could say "OK, we've reached Point B, how do we get to Point C?"

This is not to say the adventure is not without its charm. Part C has some particularly humorous moments, especially what I could only assume was a subtle nod to some of the more memorable droids from Star Wars. Part C was also interesting tactically, since it provided the players a lot of freedom with how to resolve the scene. My group opted for a stealthy option, which worked surprisingly well given that one of them was riding a huge dragon (a huge dragon that was unfortunately good at sneaking).

However, even Part C was not without its flaws. A lack of an apparent exit condition makes non-violent resolutions of the scene difficult, as I have no concept of where the players need to get to on the map in order to succeed. Actually, let's talk about maps for a second:

The final battle the PCs face is indeed an epic one, and one that really forced my players to get creative with their tactics and thinking. The fight itself ran over an hour in length, but the players never appeared bored during it. I would say that some threats during the encountered didn't exactly pan-out the way I'm sure Mr. Kronewitter intended, but others did their job admirably.

Overall, I think Data Purge is an admirable first entry into regular season 9-12 tier content. It both challenges and delights, but also drags and confuses. I would like to see future scenarios have a clearer sense of progression between scenes, but I think Data Purge is pointed in the right direction.

I GM'ed the high-tier version of this Quest.

PFS Quest 3: Grehunde's Gorget is a fun adventure into the Land of the Linnorm Kings that makes use of the setting's strong characters and personalities in the area. The story is, as expected, rather simple for a one-hour session. Find the macguffin, retrieve the macguffin, protect the macguffin, and return home victorious, macguffin held high.

Despite this constraint, author Kate Baker manages to write a memorable story about retrieving a family heirloom feared lost at sea. The story, despite being one of adventure and peril, is remarkably grounded in its telling. The mission, essentially a salvage operation, is one that you would conceivably hire a group of archaeologists-cum-mercenaries to undertake. The heirloom itself does not have a fanciful name, simple a history that gives it personal weight to the family requesting its return.

While the PCs are required to make some skill checks in order to reach the climax (the combat encounter), these checks did not feel boring. There was a risk attached to failure, but also a reward attached to success. These were not significant enough to overshadow the combat encounter, but still made the PCs feel some sense of accomplishment for overcoming what was otherwise a narrative event.

The combat in the Quest is successful for many reasons, chief among them an oft-underused enemy and a rare sense of mathematical balance between high and low tier that is often lacking. The Quest is written such that, should a low-level party end up playing into high tier because of challenge points, they won't immediately get slaughtered.

Maybe.

I say "maybe" because there is a reason I gave this quest 4 stars. While it is true that I find the combat scenario fun and fair, there is an issue with a particular sidebar regarding scaling for that encounter. There appears to be an omission that, if intentional, would transform a high tier encounter into an exceptionally lethal one given enough challenge points. Simply put, the math does not check out, as it would raise the monsters to health and damage amounts well-beyond appropriately-leveled challenges.

To that point, I would add that I did not like how scaling was linked only to challenge points, rather than tier and party level. It proved for a rather unwelcome arithmatic problem I had to solve shortly after the game started, when I finally knew the final CP value of the party. I cannot, however, entirely blame the Quest for this, as it is simply trying to make the most of an adventure scaling system that many GMs are still acclimating to.

In conclusion, Grehunde's Gorget is a short, but entertaining, quest that stands out amongst its peers. The quest's excellently-designed combat encounter is marred by an obtuse scaling mechanic that, at least from behind the screen, prevents it from living up to its full potential. My group, however, had fun, not in the least because my low rolls meant their continued success.

I played the high tier of this scenario with a group of six players. My review is in the spoiler tag below.

I ran the high tier of this scenario for a group of six players. My review is in the spoiler tag below.