I played this as a LvL5 Ranger along with a few sixes and a seven (so low tier), amongst which Ascalaphus and Damanta, at Maglok's table, and I had a blast.
Adventure (5): The party is sent from Absalom to Nantambu (without stopping in Bloodcove) to recover an important book containing information about the secrets of the Technic League. Nantambu is a beautiful location, and Maglok described the "defiant city in the heart of Africa"-feel incredibly well.
Combat (5): The encounters are very tough and the challenge is great, but every party member had multiple moments to shine. The end encounter has some really nasty spells (as Damanta mentionned in his final "Eep"-spoiler). Barely achieving the primary objective with a succesful untrained Sunder maneuver (thanks Favored Enemy!), was a moment I won't forget very soon.
Background/RP (5): The strategic choice the players must make are great RP moments. Each of us weighed the pros and cons, and in the end we let our alignments do the rest, while still having the feeling having made a significant choice. The NPC's, both ally and enemy, all had personality; A feature that is difficult to achieve succesfully.
Skills (5): YES! I could finally use (non-CS) knowledges I invested in heavily, which had very unexpected, but awesome (!) consequences during the final encounter. Actually succeeding in reading the book, was a nice bonus feel-good moment. Proud of the quote on my chronicle sheet!
I played this scneario high tier as a LvL5 Ranger, along with a few sixes and sevens, including Ascalaphus and Damanta (earlier reviews).
Adventure (3): Something's terribly wrong in the Blakros Museum. Sounds familiar? Think again. The faction mission is not extremely interesting, but the result was somewhat funny :).
Combat (4): I was glad I had just bought an adamantine earthbreaker and selected Constructs as my second favored enemy (this was mostly done from character background, but still it was a happy coincidence). This should not be a spoiler anymore by now, I believe.
The two-handed frontline had a few glorious moments, during which we showed the world no-one needs a shield to be able to tank.
The final combat was a total mess for us. GM's should be very careful and read into the abilities (and racial traits!) of special monsters, especially when these are less common. Because of this, the battle was incredibly hard and in the end we almost had to set fire to the building to defeat the encounter.
Background/RP (3): The adventure is set at the start of a struggle between the Pathfinder Society and the (until now) unknown Technic League. The background of the museum and all you can discover, is great. The encounter in the second room is great and should give many clues. The problem about these, is that their importance are easily missed either by the GM and/or by the players.
It's also a shame that, weeks later, I still don't understand the link between some of the encounters and their relation to the BBEG. Maybe the scenario explains this for the GM, but it was not explained to us players.
Skills (1): There are enough opportunities to use your knowledges... Provided you have the Technologist feat. Forget your ranks in Knowledge skills otherwise. In my opinion, it is terrible design to ask players to buy a feat to be able to succeed at the core theme of a whole season. I believe GMs should be allowed to either ignore the Technologist feat and to simply increase the difficulty of the Knowledge checks by 5 (or in some cases even 10?). This should still give enough difficulty, instead of stating a party cannot discover what the story in the background is, or what the weaknesses of an enemy are all about if they refuse to pay a feat tax (which it is).
I played this in a party with Ascalaphus and Damanta, at Woran's table (three earlier reviews). We had no real trouble rampaging through this scenario (No murder-hobo aspect, though!).
Adventure (3): It's a basic "Do something with your lives and go train" mission in one of the many derelict fortresses outside of Absalom. While happily obliging, the party stumbles on highly technological gear. As always, "Explore, Report and Cooperate" is the key to this adventure.
Combat (3): Very (!) tough opponents with fair damage output, combinded with funny/dangerous abilities. The third word of the Pathfinder mantra is the key and that worked out great for us.
Background/RP (3): I personally dislike scifi, which is a bit of a downer for many adventures, this season. For many players this may be a great opportunity to roleplay wonder (see the title of the review). The Machine Mage/Technology aspect is well defined, omnipresent, and clearly shows the threat to come in future scenarios (as The Silvermount Collection and The Technic Siege show).
Skills (2): A looooot of opportunity to throw skill checks... Provided you have the Technologist feat. Forget your ranks in Knowledge skills otherwise. In my opinion, it is terrible design to ask players to buy a feat to be able to succeed at the core theme of a season. I believe GMs should be allowed to either ignore the Technologist feat and to simply increase the difficulty of the Knowledge checks by 5 (or in some cases even 10?). This should still give enough difficulty, instead of stating a party cannot discover what the story in the background is all about if they refuse to pay a feat tax (which it is).
The only reason I give this section higher than a 1, is because Trapfinders have a few moments to shine, and I always enjoy those immensly with my ranger.
