This was a nifty adventure with a nice wrap-up encounter at the end. The players get lots of choice as to how this one plays out, so they can steer the adventure a bit to the type of play they prefer. There's even a choice at the end, one which I personally thought would be a total no-brainer. But I ran it twice, and each time the party made a different choice, and it turns out it was great fun both times.
What really didn't do it for me, though, was a chase in the middle of it. It is really long and challenging to track! Both times I ran it, I felt my lifeforce sapping from me as the players threw themselves after one obstacle after another and failed, struggling to find new ways to narrate their actions, and both times I was ready to be done to find out I was only halfway through! Meanwhile the rascals you're chasing are long since sipping tea at the finish line, so I didn't narrate anything about them. I have yet to crack this nut.
One other funky thing: this adventure uses a map tile set, but comes with a host of massive PNG maps that represent the assembly of map tiles for each scene. I would strongly recommend the map tiles if you're running in person – those maps are a beast and because of their origin don't look all that great if you try to print them out for your use.
On a plus note, I thought the Foundry module for this one was exceptionally good. See my review under that product (Part 2 of 2).
I left my review on the (2 of 2) part of this, and it applies to the scenarios I ran here too. Great assets – great automation – a pleasant experience for the GM with a time crunch.
Again, I have to mention the price is the downside, and here I want to highlight an additional problem with this two-part structure, as there is also the option to buy the entire season up front. As someone who mostly runs in-person, I tried to go with the cheaper option and bought the half-season, not being sure if I was going to need it for the back half of the season. It turns out I did, and so I ended up paying more than I would have for the whole season. Perhaps the value will increase over time – a discount for part 2 would sure have helped! – but for right now I don't think I got great value for my money, and I am not likely to purchase it this way again.
Why the five-star review, then? Because I think the product itself is great and worth the attention of anyone who wants to run Paizo adventures online. (It's also very instructive for any Foundry hackers that want to peek behind the scenes to see how a professional module is put together!)
Like Paizo's other Foundry products, this one comes with everything you need to get up and running with the adventure. But let me tell you where it really shines: the automation.
First of all, especially critical because of the number of scenarios embedded into this module, it comes with an installer to help you get things up and running for the one you need.
I ran 5-12 using this pack, and after mustering all the tokens for my adventure on the opening screen, I selected the party, ran a well-documented macro, and BOOM! all the encounters were scaled with monsters in the right places and hidden from view. I realized that, oh wait, one of the PCs actually had two tokens by mistake and I counted him twice! No problem. Remove the token, reselect the group, and run the macro again. The second time through I noted there's a field where you can manually set the CP total instead if you need it. We were in a situation where we were running 15 min behind because of players shuffling between tables, and being able to go from ready-to-go to playing in no time flat was a lifesaver.
Beyond this, there was a ton of artwork added to the Foundry module that you will not find in the PDF. For this scenario, that helped to spice things up a bit. There was even an extra _map_ in the scenario that wasn't in the PDF! An old-timer in the group recognized it and got a kick out of it.
The one weakness to these PFS products is the price. I think it's a fair price for the amount of stuff you're getting (it's indeed a premium experience), but you're basically forced to buy these scenarios in bulk. Which means the likely audience for this is people who are subscribed to the PDFs already – but they don't get a break on it either. It is dumbfounding to me that Paizo doesn't offer each scenario as one-off purchases. Find a way to do it, Paizo! Or find a way to make this work better for your subscribers. I think you're leaving a lot of money on the table here.
I ran this and found it an enjoyable romp through the planes. Lots of room for description and creativity. Some familiar NPCs make an appearance. The initial setup and final encounter were both a lot of fun to narrate.
Prep involves a LOT of items, so was a bit longer than usual. By contrast, the monsters were easy to prep except for one with a variety of forms (see GM Discussion to get a leg up). I don't think the scenario leans too heavily on elemental challenges. There's a nonstandard chase mechanic but I think it basically works and keeps things moving.
On the downside, I felt this scenario puts a lot on the GM to make the keystone encounters unique and interesting. I think my group got into a bit of a rut on these. Some of the elemental weirdness was hard to visualize, let alone describe. I also felt the scenario ran long – six elements is a lot to plow through! Finally, I wish the counteracting diagram had come into play.
FWIW, my group tried the diplomatic route and had no problems with it.
