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Pathfinder Tales: City of the Fallen SkyPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable Add PDF/ePub $6.99 Non-Mint Unavailable Rote adventure w/out heroes, but pick up the sequel 
Majuba
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Pathfinder Tales: Death's HereticPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable Add PDF/ePub $6.99 Non-Mint Unavailable Great Atheist representation in a henotheistic society
Majuba
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Pathfinder Tales: Master of DevilsPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable Add PDF/ePub $6.99 Non-Mint Unavailable Solid take on Wushu, and a touch of Mythic before Mythic
Majuba
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Pathfinder Tales: The Worldwound GambitPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable Add PDF/ePub $6.99 Non-Mint Unavailable Well-done fantasy heist, with unexpected characters
Majuba
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Pathfinder Tales: Plague of ShadowsPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable
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Non-Mint Unavailable A story that sticks with you
Majuba
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It's been about a decade since I read Plague of Shadows, but I remember its story perhaps better than any other Pathfinder Tales novel I've read. Much of it is "what happens after..." and the consequences of that, and that intrigues the imagination so strongly. What if *my* character had been there, had been part of this group, what would I have done? 
Pathfinder Tales: Winter WitchPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable Add PDF/ePub $6.99 Non-Mint Unavailable Evocative if flawed
Majuba
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Pathfinder Tales: Prince of WolvesPaizo Inc.Print Edition Unavailable Add PDF/ePub $6.99 Non-Mint Unavailable A great start to the line
Majuba
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Shy Knives takes a bunch of classic tropes, and twists them around and through each other to provide something that feels unique and new. It's pretty fast-paced, non-stop, but in a much more bearable way than "Wizard's Mask" for instance. Would love to see Shaia again. When Keren, Zae, and Appleslayer first showed up, there was a great deal of excitement and asking for more. This novel did not disappoint! It's also one of the only bits of fiction actually set in the City at the Center of the World, Absalom. Harbowy provides a fascinating look that really shows just how big a city Absalom is, as well as one of the most iconic events that happens there - "Ascension". There's a few scenarios that let or force you take on some sort of template. The first was a curse, the second the title warns you but it's required. This one lets you choose whether or not to use it, except it becomes virtually required by the mechanics. I normally enjoy chases - this one felt far too severe.. and was there even a chase happening? Perhaps the GM got it wrong but it felt very off. One encounter seems simply a batch of save or suck for the scenario - almost would have been better as a trap. Feels like a fairy tale, not an adventure. Love Magnimar, appreciate the efforts to make solid mechanics, and have no beef with using skills that are on the min side of min-maxed. It just doesn't come together very well, especially for less experienced GMs. Pros: I thoroughly enjoyed the first part, investigating. That felt very well fleshed out with lots of hooks to cling to, at least how it was run for me. Shadow Absalom was once again well-portrayed Cons: Most of the rest felt very forced, even as it presented a 'choice'. At one point, the party can choose to act like savage buffoons, or shell out a large sum of gold. Later it felt like we had no chance (perhaps high DCs?) to press for middle of the road solutions, only harshness or nothing. In the end it felt like we didn't accomplish anything that we actually wanted to, despite 'success'. Neutral: The cameo of the 'five star exclusive character' felt very forced and largely inconsequential, but still held some humor. 
Pathfinder Society Scenario #53: Echoes of the Everwar—Part IV: The Faithless Dead (PFRPG) PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $3.99 Add to CartHolds up well
Majuba
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I've had the chance to run this series twice (about 6 & 8 years ago), both times retiring characters satisfactorily. Once it was a Spoiler: I particularly find this adventure to be one of the best for Osirian flavor.
PC with the Living Monolith prestige class - that was particularly memorable for him. I recently had the chance to play through this as well, and thoroughly enjoyed it. While the ending has a few issues as mentioned, and the series as a whole tends to be easier now than 8 years ago, the finale holds up. Several layers of creepy - from the initial "briefing" to meeting the sisters, the crawl through the dungeon - it really builds the tension, especially Spoiler:
6 damn mummies! The actual finale of course should almost be played for laughs to break that tension, but ce la vie. All in all, still very enjoyable. I just ran What Prestige is Worth and everyone had a great time and was very pleased by the end. It did run an hour over, with a soft rush towards the end (but nothing really skipped). The mid-session timer is a great idea, but I really like that there's another mechanic to cut off the first half if you want to give the scenario a longer time slot (vs. certain challenging scenarios having a strict time limit). * (-1 star): This scenario shares the fatal flaw of The Disappeared - the players are railroaded to assist Zarta Dralneen whom I despise beyond all measure - but this was truly a joy to run (much like The Disappeared), even if I wouldn't ever want to play it (other than to send Zarta to Hell permanently). 
Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–20: Returned to Sky (PFRPG) PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $3.99 Add to CartHalf Drag, Half Thrill
Majuba
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So this was my final (pre-Seeker) scenario for one of my favorite characters. A few months after playing this, all the events in Chesed are virtually gone from my memory (which is unusual), but the end "dungeon" turned out to be one of my favorite areas and really engaging. I enjoy the mix of 'slow' and 'fast' challenges that both let you think on how to respond and require immediate action. 
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Planar AdventuresPaizo Inc.Add Hardcover $44.99 Add PDF $19.99
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Solid Gold Awesome
Majuba
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My spouse and I haven't been so captured by a RPG book in ages - this was hours of fun just paging through, imagining so many different scenarios, uses, quirks, builds, stories, and fights. For Campaigns, this is some awesomely rules for traversing the planes, in short or long form. For GMs, fantastic monsters and plot hooks. For PCs some really fantastic magic items and feats, many of them versatile and adaptable to many of the planes instead of being heavily tied to one. An amazing finale for the Pathfinder line. 
Pathfinder Player Companion: Disciple's Doctrine (PFRPG)Paizo Inc.Add Print Edition $14.99 Add PDF $9.99 Non-Mint Unavailable Flavorful if strong ootions
Majuba
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Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-07: Salvation of the Sages PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $4.99 Add to CartStartlingly Effective
Majuba
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When I prepared this scenario, I was half cackling and half crying at what felt to be an absolutely inevitable TPK. I was wrong, and am highly impressed. DO NOT RUN THIS COLD. This scenario is comprehensive in scope, funny and new in execution, and nigh bewildering in complexity. For the last though, the support *is* there in the scenario to make it manageable (unlike e.g. 9-05). Meaningful choices are found throughout, beginning to end. Bravo! The BBEG is well-developed, and matches her traits described in the previous scenario it 'appeared' in. There are some editing improvements possible. A lot of minor items are insufficiently described, leaving it to the GM to come up with (e.g. whether certain effects can be tracked to their source). Overall, with careful preparation, they did not detract. Overall, my only real complaint, and still not worth a loss of star, has to do with the Scarab Sage faction boon. Boon Beef:
For once, I can pleasantly say that making certain faction related choices *don't* negatively impact the whole table (via prestige). Thank you thank you thank you. Crushing the Diamond or Emerald Sage Jewels is a valid option for non-jerks. My only complaint is that the boon being lost doesn't really match the condition very well. While this scenario is certainly unique and deserved high challenge, I do think it continues a trend this season of having exceptionally difficult scenarios. I've had more deaths and near TPKs this season than any in a while. 
Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-05: Call of the Copper Gate PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $4.99 Add to CartConvoluted to the extreme
Majuba
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Overall, this is a four star scenario, with a nice change up in the flow, and other decent encounter designs. It fails on three main points however. Spoiler:
First, the initial assumption that the PCs are going to obey Zarta Dralneen, instead of arresting, killing, or snubbing her. This is a half-loved, half-despised character, and should not be giving direct orders to regular Pathfinders.
Second, every single encounter in this scenario is extremely complicated, with pages of material for environmental effects, interactions (before, during, and after combat), and that doesn't even cover the statblocks. The combats would be overly deadly, except most GMs won't be able to keep track of everything going on. Third, 7 books as resources, including four bestiaries, with every referenced creature *also* referencing additional books. This isn't quite the finale to Serpent's Ire, but it's close, and just too much for a Tier 3-7. Edit: Post-play feedback - the encounter at the Arcanamirium essentially has no "early bail-out" option/rules, to simply avoid the encounter. It relies on the PCs to do as their told by some random faction head. Even with three members of that faction, they felt it best to just get rid of the creature. There's definitely some kudos to be handed out for inclusions of some things, but overall it's a mess. A handout to track afflictions, room effects, etc., would have been helpful. Edit: I wrote this review initially before running the scenario, but it failed to post correctly. Thankfully I managed to recover it (yay Lazarus). After running it, I stand by all the points above. We managed to have a fun night with it, despite *very* close to a TPK, but even the most engaged players were shaking their heads at a lot of the scenario. 
Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-01: The Cost of Enlightenment (PFRPG) PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $4.99 Add to CartHalf great, Half punishment - Or is it?
Majuba
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------- GM review from July 2020 --------
What I can say is this: be ready to flex. You've got to go with your group, and emphasize the parts of this story that will work for them. Critical to emphasize from the very start that the object of the mission is what the cult found. Without that focus, the rest has no meaning. Suggestions:
I ran this for two newbies and two veterans and it just.. worked. No clerics or similar, that helped. The rest the success was an openness on the players part, and meeting them halfway when needed. ------- Player review from Sept 2017 --------
The second half was at best maddening, at worst a punishment for realistic roleplaying.
Spoiler:
Our conversation with the entity at the end was disorienting and dragged out. We decided, as we felt any *sane* adventurer would (or even mildly crazy one) that drinking as directed would be a Very Bad Idea. That lost of half our gold, and half our prestige. Consequences? Sure. Punished for being rational? Please no. I didn't get any 'preachiness' out of the scenario at all - that might have helped. I look forward to more from the author, as long as the spoilered issue(s) don't repeat. 
Pathfinder Society Scenario #7–98: Serpents' Ire (PFRPG) PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $3.99 Add to CartConvoluted to the extreme
Majuba
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While it contains some well-thought out throwbacks to the first Aspis special, this one (even the new version) is simply painfully convoluted and overwrought. The sheer number of obscure creatures, classes, archetypes, templates, spells, and items used makes game play tedious at best (in two cases five different obscure sources simultaneously). Most of the backstory is simply inaccessible to players, despite the 'research' focus of the mission. It's only redeeming qualities are callbacks (and callforwards in the background info), and some potential for freeform wonkiness in a creative party. Not recommended, even as a follow-up for big fans of Serpent's Rise. I thouroughly enjoyed reading through Runescars #1 - a nice callback to the era of Curse of the Crimson Throne, good dialogue and interactions, and a delightful 'monster' appearance. Even the cliffhanger was better than the usual. But I have to say the art is lacking - characters are only marginally recognizable, and some facial expressions are purely disappointing. Hopefully it will improve in the next issues. 
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Class Guide (OGL)Paizo Inc.Hardcover Unavailable Add PDF $19.99 Non-Mint Unavailable A continuing disappointment
Majuba
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The ACG had problems. Many problems. And it continues to have problems. From concept ("Let's make ten classes as complicated and broken as the magus, or more so!"), to out-of-whack game design, to simply poor editing, the ACG is a mess. The book's philosophy seems to be "create a new utterly unbalanced mechanic, and proliferate it as far as possible." The (quickly issued) errata pulled some of it a bit more into line, but it just doesn't come close to correcting it. Even something as simple as alchemical items are way out there. Holy Weapon Balm costs 5gp more than holy water, and does 1400% more damage. And that doesn't even include increasing damage to incorporeal creatures. Even two years after it was released, I continue to be impressed with the complete disregard for balance and sense in this book. If power creep had happened this much every year, we'd be looking at 9999 damage caps by now. The ACG stands out for its insanity. Perhaps pulping it for the cover error would have been the better move.
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