Stephen Trone's page

This is one of my favorite scenarios to do in the 1-5 tier. The NPCs interesting and well thought out and the adventure itself has some pretty fun interactions. The fights are fairly trivial but they include fun and unique enemies which is always worth a star in my book.

Some obnoxious editing problems are not enough to bring this one down and I am actually looking forward to running this one again.

This scenario did a very good job of capturing the feel of being in a different plane of existence. The hazards are a little wonky and at least in our experience the fights weren't terrible difficult, but I thoroughly enjoyed the interesting creatures you get to meet. The puzzle was fun and took us a bit, but didn't feel like it bogged the game down at all. The author was good enough to put multiple options in for engaging certain encounters which is always appreciated.
My only real criticism is that looking back now, the mission you are given isn't really the mission you do, and the main NPC you talk to is kind of sketchy if you really think about what she is asking.
Still this was a lot of fun and fairly quick (2.25 hrs for us), would recommend.

A top notch scenario and definitely one of my favorite low level games. I am always a fan of unique creatures in scenarios and there are several in here. The NPCs are delightful and if done well can really sell the weirdness of the entire situation. This entire scenario feels exactly like the kind of thing low level pathfinders would be tasked to do and when they are not out adventuring.

First off I can certainly see why this scenario earned the rating it did, there is a lot of potential for party death especially in the beginning. The first and possibly the second fight can be very swingy and that is not necessarily a good thing. This is not a scenario that messes around and if you come unprepared or expecting a cake walk you will die. That being said I loved pretty much every minute of it. The monsters are cool and interesting of the type not normally seen in PFS. If you are prepared for anything and everything then the fights will be tough but winnable. The flavor of the scenario is spot on and there can be a serious creepy factor going on the entire time you are in the gloom spire. Would not recommend for new players, but for people who want a challenge this is a very fun flavorful scenario. My favorite season 8 so far.

This scenario does a better job than most of setting up where the players are going and why. The enemies you encounter are new and interesting and can provide a serious challenge for players if handled properly. Not much chance for roleplaying, but there is a neat little NPC to deal with so overall a very solid scenario.

A rather uninspired scenario from either a player or GM position. The time spent going through the desert makes no sense considering caravans travel through there alright and does nothing but drain party resources. The final fight was incredibly swingy in my experience. In the upper tier, if your opponents win initiative it can be a TPK round 1. In the lower tier it is almost a cake walk. Combined with a very linear story and there is not a whole lot to write home about on this one.

Love the challenge in this. It was dangerous but doable throughout and the final encounter really had that desperate "do it or we all die!!" feel to it. The puzzle in it was a lot of fun for the table to gather around and talk out and the story was pretty cool. Hands down my favorite scenario in season five and one of my favorite overall.

I played and then ran this scenario the next day and honestly I hated it both times. The first fight is obnoxious from the players point of view and even worse from a GMs. I don't want to have players make 3 saves per round per swarm when they rarely fail. Its a waste of time. The second "encounter" literally does nothing but waste time until someone gets clever since there is no consequence for failing it again and again until you succeed. The entire thing is made of gotcha mechanics from creatures that don't really threaten you, just your stuff. And for the love of all that is holy someone please CHECK THE NPC EQUIPMENT LIST before printing. Unless I missed some note about them being stripped of gear the final fight should not even happen if you are smart about it.

So my party ran through it with 4 people playing up. In the copy we had, the 4 player adjust for the hardest fight was in a DIFFERENT SCENARIO so we almost wiped. After barely surviving broken and battered we come across the NPC who was run as written. From the perspective of the characters and players, almost dying for this kid and then being mouthed off to is pretty much enough motivation for us to say screw it just drag him home no diplomacy required. We tried some of the tricks to get him on our side such as letting him fight a monster or 2, sparring with him etc, but what it comes down to is we almost die, and then in thanks he mouths off and runs off into the woods to do more dangerous things. A lot of the reviews I saw talked about how their party eventually got a natural 20 or some such on diplomacy. THAT IS NOT GOOD DESIGN. Players should not be 20 fishing to complete a scenario. Having played it I don't think I will ever inflict it on anyone else by running it.

I will start this off by saying I love sci-fi and the tech elements automatically give this scenario a star from me. That being said this was a very odd scenario to wrap my head around as a player. We had a very range heavy party and the first fight would have deadly had it not been for some good magic support. After finishing the "obstacle course" and recovering the macguffin trinket we had a discussion in and out of character of "why are we bothering?" Explore, Report, Cooperate is the society's motto, not necessarily the character's motto. After the first stupidly dangerous fight, going into a place with more of those things for no reason was kind of hard to justify. This is especially true when your briefing tells you "don't stray into anyplace we haven't cleared". On the plus side after we got in the main dungeon we had a lot of fun playing on the enterprise bridge and the chronicle sheet is nice and full. Should be a 2 star, but like I said, I love me some tech.