For a players who are just starting out, and may have the Beginner Box, this is a really great incremental augmentation to a growing pawn set, and is a very affordable, and exciting addition.
This Pawn set has the benefit of a good ratio: a handful of NPCs, Some good monsters, and cultists, a clutch of named characters including Karzoug. The medium monsters are mostly giants due to the ROTRL story path, and the huge monsters are giants and spiders. But, what this set has is Goblins Galore! C'mon! You need Goblins!
IN CASE ANYONE READING THIS DOESN'T KNOW: The ROTRL pawn set does not contain the core iconics! Valeros and the gang are in the "Pathfinder Pawns NPC Codex Box" (The Beginner Box includes Merisiel, Ezren, Valeros, and Kyra), and the Skulls and Shackles Iconics are in - wait for it - "The Pathfinder Pawns Inner Sea Pawn Box". Also, like the other reviews said, there are no bases.
This version of the Pathfinder RPG is made especially for those who may be tempted to play Pathfinder (or Dungeons and Dragons) but were intimidated by the massive library of massive books that contain massive quantities of massive rules,... And this is a pretty massive solution.
The ACG rulebook is more like a pamphlet (not massive), and the game mechanism is fun and very robust while being very economical (and therefore not massive). What is massive is the amount of cards included in the core pack! Literally hundreds of items, spells, monsters, etc... that fill out the universe of this card-based RPG.
All you have to do is lay out the cards properly, and the story unfolds. And, everyone at the table can just play. To get started, just pick one of the Iconic characters, select the scenario, set out the cards called for in that scenario, and you are rolling dice in minutes.
BTW: Be sure to read everything on the cards, including all of the color and descriptive text, because it really informs the game play, and gives you a feeling for the story, and sometimes makes a critical difference in game play.
OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER:
One set of dice is included (d4,d6,d8,d10x2,d12), but every player at the table needs a full set of dice. Typically we play with individual dice sets, and use the game set to supplement those!
The Character Add-On decks are great, and if you are playing with more than four characters in the game, you actually need those extra cards. The class decks are also a good to have, and ultimately, if you like this game you will start to buy the story expansions 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (expansion set 1 is included in the core set).
The Pathfinder Pawns are awesome, and younger players (such as my kids) really perceive the characters' locations better when using pawns instead of the Token Cards. However, the S&S Pawn Set DOES NOT include the Iconics or the bosses from the scenarios included in the Core S&S ACG. To collect all of the current Iconics, you need to buy the Inner Sea Pawn set, and the NPC Codex Pawn box. You may want to consider buying the PDFs from Paizo, and making the Pawns you need yourself. It's important to note that combat resolves rather quickly in the ACG, so by the time you mill through your pawn index to find the right Sea Hag, the combat is liable to be over with.
People who play the RPG may miss the level of richness available in the full game, and will definitely miss the ability to roll - or even convert - their own characters, but this should not be viewed as a replacement for the RPG! This is something that easily allows players to experience a story path, and it will ultimately broaden the community; it's an RPG for people who aren't ready to commit the time to a full RPG ...yet.
This Character Add-On brings four fantastic Iconics (DAMIEL, FEIYA, LINI, and ORLOCH) into the Adventure Card Game, and although specifically meant to supplement the characters in the S & S Adventure Path, there is no reason they can't be used in ROTRL, and very likely the upcoming WOTR ACG Adventure Path (conjecture).
DAMIEL, Alchemist: A ranged bomber that can add fire and poison to any attack, recharges his alchemical items, and can use his Craft Intelligence for Wisdom or Archane knowledge in non-combat situations.
ORLOCH, War Priest: Can buff checks by merely displaying weapons and blessings cards, can heal, and can fight like a dedicated fighter.
FEIYA, Witch: Can recharge cards to buff checks, and can use her animal familiars to fetch spell cards from her discard.
LINI, Druid: Recharges her Animal Allies, has both divine and survival wisdom, and can discard to boost her Strength or Dexterity.
If you read the fine print you will see that the Core Set only supports 1-4 players, and this Add-On makes it possible to play with more characters/players. And, if you are getting the S & S Core set, you may as well add these great Iconics right away, because they are really enjoyable, and you will regret trying to level them up to catch up to the rest of the party.
In case you like one of the characters in the deck, and are tempted just to blag them in using the character sheets, that's not a bad solution but keep in mind, the Add-On deck comes with items, spells, weapons, sallies, armor etc... that really starts the Character decks off right (Remember a Character is the sum of their stats, abilities, and Character Deck!) This is especially true of Damiel, the Alchemist, who uses a pistol, which isn't commonly found in the ROTRL Adventure Path.
Also, if you already have four characters in the game you will need the additional cards in the Add-On deck to support another player/character. Adding a 5th character without supporting cards will stretch the core set very thin.
There is no concise or official method for rolling a ACG character or converting an Iconic, so there is a lot of need for more Iconics in card form, and these are some great ones.
