| Squatting Monkey |
This was my first PF adventure, a convention organizer did a great job of getting me interested in a session so I spent two hours creating a character which the GM asked me not to play when he arrived. After some diplomacy, he recanted and I along with 3 others --all level one players, began.
The story and setting were good, however the gsmeplay felt very linear. We were being led from one set-piece to another. It felt like we were locked into a video game where we had to figure out what we were supposed to do rather than deciding what we wanted to do.
I understand that this "fluidity" is a reflection of the GMs ability and enthusiasm, and ours was less than amiable and didn't show any real creativity. The only time he seemed to "brighten -up" was when he had somehow, somewhat improbably, worked us into a bad combat situation. At one point he had a tattoo artist run past the party in a narrow hallway, through a curtain, in order to sandwich our lead player who was engaged with another tattoo artist, then he called a friend over to gloat about this absurd maneuver.
The adventure ended with one killed by the stone golem in a single attack, one was turned to stone while at 0 hp and fleeing from the golem,one left the game, and one escaped.
Not a great deal of fun, but the other players were great, two of them seemed pretty experienced and they made things enjoyable.
The GM should be familiar with the material , creative in its application, and be able to make common sense adjustments, or better yet use a different adventure at a gaming convention if you are running level ones. This adventure clearly needs some level 3-5 PFs.
As far as the adventure itself, there is some flavor and emersion due to rich characters and a the complex nature of the mission; however the "go secure 3 items" and "oh look a contest where one of our items is a prize to the stranger who walked in off of the street to lift a table the best". Obviously not a coveted item. This type of linear setup made things feel a little juvenile, and seeing that most of the gamers are 30 and over, it seems like the writing could be a little less "gamey".
Not sure if I will play again, playing at a convention is nice, but to join a regular group would forces me to forgoe all other gaming; RPGs are definitely time intensive. But given a GM that has really prepared and shows some enthusiasm for the game, who knows.