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This scenario contains the most memorable fighting encounter in this season for me so far. Players truly feared for their characters. Alas - it is one easily spoilered by meta game knowledge. So how could this encounter end up in a repeatable?

The differences in approach also feel not that huge. I have seen more diverse approaches in 1-08 as I expect here. The difference in last encounter is cosmetic - and if you currently play online on roll20 then not even visual a difference as they use the same token for all 4 monsters in the lower tier.

That leaves the skill challenge:
I had Thomas Keller in my game - and I felt deflated as GM afterwards. In some respects this is the best skill challenge I have seen so far.
a) it allows to gather meaningful bonuses through the game
b) it introduced scaling difficulty - so don't be a single skill monkey
c) it is a true challenge

BUT

I did the Maths - and you need a skill bonus of 11 mathematically (tier 5-6) to get enough points using averages and expected values.
This value ignores strategic use of hero points and the bonuses gained (or not) earlier.

I'm now close to my third glyph - and this was my first game ever where I handed out zero fame. And the group didn't even do anything wrong.
I can't blame them for slightly non-optimal composition or bad dice rolling.

Don't get me wrong - I so far like the scenario a lot. But Bonekeep comes with a disclaimer - this is hardcore - TPK is possible.
I will now give my players a heads-up. The skill challenge here is hard core - TFK (Total Fame Kill) possible. The group still got all treasure and the boon - but the TFK caught them unexpected.

I have GMed this scenario now twice - and players enjoyed it a lot in both cases. This scenario is a pretty straight forward dungeon crawl. Players are awarded with lots of monsters to mow down. Sometimes all a player wants is to cut a notch in the haft of his battle axe for each enemy downed - and in this respect the scenario delivers plenty.

Just take care if you run with a table of 6. You might have to watch out for time.

There are one or two nicely build up bits that are not just a fight - but difficult to mention them here without spoilers.

If there is anything I would criticize then it is mapping.

Individually the maps are all great. But they connect in an way that rivals an Escher Painting. You leave some stairs in the middle of the South and reappear in the middle of the west etc. This just feels plain wrong.

I GMed this scenario yesterday for an experienced group. Please let me start with the positive: I (as well as the group) had a great time. This scenario is a great roleplay opportunity. Alas it is let down severely by editing.

So – back to where I started. I think this scenario has huge potential. Issue 1 is not game breaking – most players / GMs will likely never notice that they ‘break’ the rules. Issue 2 will disappear over time as more material gets published. Unfortunately, writers can’t assume what works in 1e will work in 2e (yet). This leaves issue 3. In my view this needs an errata.
As PFS GM I should not be forced to bend rules, break rules, improvise to make a scenario possible / fun. I could write this sentence less severe by saying I just roleplay – but wanted to ensure it is clear what I think is wrong. In my view it is clear what the writer intended and the whole idea/concept is great. But it was let down by implementation of details.

edit: I forgot one bit: This scenario is not mount friendly. This is an overland race - so don't expect you are at an advantage if you have a mount as you aren't allowed to ride it.

edit2: Issue 3 has been acknowledged and an updated pdf has been promised. I will remove issue 3 once that has happened - which likely will be after Christmas now. Kudos to a quick reply from Paizo !! They just rolled a 1 on timing which isn't their fault ...

I gmed this scenario twice now and look forward to gm it again. I certainly enjoyed both games a lot and hope my players did so as well. So with this out of the way - why do I rate it 4 stars and not 5.

Pros:
This scenario is a sandbox. It allows a lot of flexibility and might end up as a very different game depending on the decision and dice rolling of the group.This makes it great for a GM who wants to run it multiple times as you don't know ahead of time how the group approaches the scenario.
The scenario offers a lot of help and background how to handle different decisions from the group.

Cons:
I don't know how many different scenarios I prepped during my time as PFS GM. This was certainly the one I spend more time prepping than any other scenario before - by a wide margin. I can blame part of the extra time for moving from PFE1e to PFE2e and from F2F to roll20. But it still needs a lot of prep. And even then I got caught flatfooted by the decisions of my groups in either game.
The lot of background info can drown out the info you might need. A whole page of text helping you to gm might become redundant (apart of a few lines) because the group veers off from the anticipated paths.
You need to keep the group inside the sandbox without railroading them and taking away from the fun they have.

Balancing the Pros and Cons leads to my rating of 4 stars (base rating).

If you prefer roleplay over rollplay feel free to add a +1 circumstance bonus to the stars I handed out.
If you are an experienced GM and love a challenge / look for a scenario that will lead to very different stories and outcomes then feel free to add a +1 circumstance bonus to the stars I handed out.

If you prefer rollplay over roleplay feel free to add a -1 circumstance penalty to the stars I handed out.
If you are inexperienced, short of time, afraid that you can't keep a group inside the sandbox feel free to add a -1 circumstance penalty to the stars I handed out.

I had to improvise slightly in both games I ran as both groups went on minor side paths not described in the scenario with any DC / if they are allowed or not. Some PFS GMs / players regard this as anathema. So you are warned that you might get into a situation where you either improvise slightly or railroad the group in a major way to force them to follow the script.

I would like to congratulate the author on this enjoyable (for me) scenario. You created something like DrPepper or Marmite. You will have GMs and players who love it - but don't be discouraged if you have some who will hate it.

This review was written for the PFO boards - but I felt it might be useful here as well. I tried to keep it low on spoilers - it isn't 100% spoiler free.

Rating: 4.5 stars for story, presentation, being a good read (half a star deducted mainly for spelling issues)
As this isn't an option I settled for full 5 stars as I think it fits in nicely to the overall tales line - readers not aware of PFO might not even notice - while being a prefect introduction to PFO.

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I finished the book just after midnight on Saturday - likely missing some urgent housework or guild business while reading. I enjoyed the book a lot. Given that it was a free pdf for Pathfinder Online Kickstarter backers at the Early Enrollment level I felt it might be useful to do a review that is PFO centric from a Tales Subscriber who has read all other books so far.

General: It isn't my all time favorite in the whole series - but it is a solid good read. I would place it in the better half of the series. If you like it depends on the kind of books you like to read. I still liked reading even the worst ranked (according to my taste) ones. The one downside I noticed for this book - I had the feeling there where more spelling mistakes/left out words than usual. I'm not a natural English speaker and not a spelling or grammar nazi - but I noticed a few sentences where a word was missing or off.

This out of the way I start with the PFO centric part. Pathfinder tales tend to be 350-400 page long softcover books that tell some heroic story in Golarion. Paizo controls what is written - so these books tie in nicely with the lore of Golarion and the pathfinder rules. Expect some artistic freedoms - but you often can recognize individual spells from the rules and at least in one instance I have read it in the tales first and saw a rule for it later - the riffle scrolls used by Count Jeggare.

The tales are not only tied in to Golarion. They deliberately try to further explore some (or multiple) regions of Golarion, one or more classes of the rule book and try to give the reader an idea how Paizo sees Golarion looking through the eyes of the various authors.

The Crusader Road ties into the launch (or near launch) of PFO alpha / Early Enrollment. As such the area explored is the River Kingdoms - or to be more precise - Thornkeep and the settlement of Silverlake.

The story starts with a meeting of Lady Tyressa Vishov - a noble from neighbouring Ustalav driven into exile - with Baron Blackshield - the ruler of Thornkeep.

I try not to give any spoilers here. But I felt this first chapter ideally sets the scene for a PvP game as PFO. Baron Blackshield is in the Thornkeep book (Kickstarter 1) a level 8 CN lycanthrope. He reminded me a little bit how Bluddwolf sometimes portrays himself here (I hope I don't offend him using this as comparison). But don't expect the Baron to 'play nice' just for the sake of it.

For me chapter 1 is a must read for all RP players who haven't realized PFO is PvP and not PvE. Get used to it - the River Kingdoms are rough. You either defend yourself or you suffer.

The story is mainly described from the view point of Jerrad - the 13 year old son of Lady Tyressa - with sometimes Lady Tyressa herself. So chapter 2 is a naive boy wandering into Thornkeep. I try not to give spoilers - just one word - Goblins.

What follows in the next chapter - and other chapters throughout the book is to show the need to make friends and allies if you want to survive. This is very fitting to PFO. If you think you can do it on your own - think again.

Various allies encountered are the strange and old druid women living on her own in the wood, the Murdoon clan - the closest neighbours to Silverlake, the fey, the local barbarian tribe called the Wolvemanes, the broken ones - failed crusaders turned bandits who have fled the Worldwound and have nowhere to go and turned to banditry just to survive.

Not everyone is a natural ally - some even start as enemies. But they all have one bit in common - the newly to be build settlement encroaches on some of their own interest or territory and they all are neighbours. As such all of these are faced with the problem of collaboration or fighting with each other for resources and/or land.

I think that mimics perfectly how Paizo sees PFO and the different settlements / the landrush. We are thrown into a competition for resources, interests - and we are tasked to work it out one way or the other. Collaboration as well as war are both options - so is destruction.

Back to the book - destruction of Silverlake surely isn't an option - there will be a happy end - a hard fought over one - but nevertheless. I'm sure Paizo would like the same outcome for most settlements - after all - they like a striving community and game - alas in PFO you won't have the guarantee that you will end up with a happy ending. Do the wrong decision - anger the wrong neighbour and it might end up badly with you.

So what about PvE? We have monsters as well as fights with them. The whole book manages to get away with just three !! types of monsters without being boring - wolves, goblins and ogres. Lets have a look how that foreshadows PFO. Oops - forgot goblin dogs - but they are close enough to wolves and I'm too lazy to check if GW has implemented them early or uses wolves as riding companions of goblins.

We already know that these three monster types are also what will be in the early launch.

Wolves are random predators roaming the wilderness. Expect to run into them occasionally. You might gather hides from them - but to a degree it is a warning not to go out on your own - oops - did I just drop a spoiler here?

Goblins are the enemy we love. They are unorganized, they are everywhere - and given the right incentive will attack you in sufficient numbers to be a challenge. They are the normal pests that add spice to the game through their antics. And they should give you fights to win.

And then there are the Ogres. The way ogres are described makes them the tough monsters, the early boss monsters. A single one easily fights a whole group of ordinary settlers and only multiple adventurers together or a true hero is able to defeat them.

What did I miss? Intrigue and backstabbing. If you have never played PvP then expect some amount of betrayal - sooner or later. We have this in the book itself - but I'm not giving a spoiler here to tell you who the evil schemer is who plans the downfall of Silverlake from the beginning while hiding behind a smile and cultured diplomacy.

Every poster here - to some degree - has an agenda. Just look at the bottom of this review to see one of mine.

For PFO this means - just because you find someone writing nice words here in the forum doesn't make him universal trustworthy if his/her interest and your own no longer align (off course with me the exemption). I hope and don't expect to see betrayal in PFO on the level shown in the book - after all - this is an artistic piece of work - but expect some of it to happen to you eventually.

So if you never read a single Pathfinder Tales book and want to play PFO - I really, really recommend that you read it ahead of Early Enrollment. If you don't like reading and are new to PvP and come from the table top environment then read at least chapter 1. Everyone will benefit if players have some more idea how Paizo sees their own creation in the lore of the Pathfinder Tales. Build on that lore - don't build against it whatever your own idea of your gameplay and settlement might be and you can be sure to enrich the world of PFO for everyone else.

Comments welcome.

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This review was brought to you by Join Thod's Friends. There are many worthwhile guilds to join - and I will send you elsewhere if I feel you will fit there better. But I hope some readers who haven't decided yet where to go will at least have a look.

If you are looking for some shadows - this is the set I would recommend. The sculpt is great - and they are very simple to paint. Ensure they are dark black - and add a little bit of dry-brush - done.
I just used one of them this week in the Third Riddle PFS scenario. Can't wait to use them somewhere else.

Great sculpts, great quality - Otherworld is the way to go.

I was a GM yesterday at a CON and on a table of 6 level 1 characters I had 5 pregens who all enjoyed the game a lot. I regard it as very nicely balanced - I got two characters down (not dead) and ripped through one summoned monster (would have been the death of a character otherwise) and one character would need more as healing now. All of this while we didn't even face the big bad at the end due to time issues.
Each monster or challenge played it's part. The group tried each time to solve it the hard/wrong way first until learning eventually how to be more clever.
This is really a great adventure I can recommend for some new starters. There are only two issues I can see with the adventure:

This is a great adventure which lives from the heureka moment when you figure out how to face a challenge. As such it is completely ruined if played a second time. Knowing how you could achieve the main goal with two first level characters on tier 1-2.
Time - we did run out of time ahead of the last two encounters. Part of this was that a group of 6 struggled to work out how to defeat some challenges. Coupled with 5 different factions (I handed random ones out to the pregens) this meant we also spend time going back and explore the last bit possible. A more organized or clever group shouldn't have a problem - but it's difficult to speed up for a group that takes time to learn without disclosing anything.