SatiricalBard's page

I just wrote a long review only for Paizo's website to eat it, gah. So this will be shorter and less detailed.

I have played this as a PC and run it as GM, and had great fun both times. The fact it played very differently speaks to how well it hits the mark for an open-ended heist adventure. The adventure does an excellent job implementing and showcasing the Infiltration subsytem.

The pregens are mostly great (not sure what the earlier reviewer was upset about, as 2 PCs have thieves tools and the monk is the main healer), even if only 1 PC gets the iconic twin sawtooth sabres, and the little notes about how each PC views the others are a great aid for 'pick up and play' roleplaying.

My one tip is to keep to the semi-abstracted nature of that system rather than being slaves to the 'tyranny of the grid' - use the map as a general reference point, and only switch to exact grid placement for combats. Otherwise you'll find the precision of the grid clashes with how the infiltration rules work to enable a cool 'heist'.

This was a great ~3 hour one-shot (we just played the basement level). The pregens are hilariously zany, and the premise and setup are fabulous. It's worth investing a few extra minutes in the prologue, hamming up Tunnelmaster Miknik and the cheering/anxious Hookclaw clan, to set the tone.

The encounters were fun to play, had a good variety of challenges/abilities, and were surprisingly tough for a light-hearted one-shot. But IMHO at least one of the basement encounters needed some kind of social element, rather than "you enter the next area, X creature attacks [two of whom can't even speak]". In hindsight I'd have given Camilla some sort of charm/suggestion spell and lead with that before things turn to violence - that could make for some great (but also poignant) fun.

As it is, the adventure really needs the players to embrace the spirit of the adventure and their chaotic/crazy characters. If they do that, you'll have one of the most fun 3-4 hours of your recent roleplaying lives. If not, it's still a good fun one-shot, with a fun twist on the classic 5 room dungeon. 4.5 stars.

Note that there is a very high quality, free fan-made VTT map available too.