I played this at Paizocon in the high tier, and this is now my least favourite scenario I've ever played. It didn't help that my GM wasn't doing his job well, but even then it was an awful adventure.
I'll start with the one good thing: The investigation was okay. The only downfall was that it used a bunch of professions that nobody would ever pick.
The Dimension of Dreams sequence was pointless. I don't understand why it even existed in the scenario. It established some background, and nothing else.
The final fight was stupidly, brokenly unbalanced. 3 Psychementals, who on a failed will save remove you from the remainder of the scenario with 22 negative levels. We wound up having to teleport the 3 unconscious part members back to town, and the 5th fled on foot. Which made things worse.
The last part, the whole philosophical debate, reminds me of 9-01, and how philosophy and introspective conversation on that level does not belong in Society play, as it is almost impossible to properly execute. Not to mention the entire Ethereal Plane thing came fresh out of nowhere and was not explained at all. The only conscious, present party member was thankfully the party face, and succeeded at every single Diplomacy check, scoring us a victory. Somehow.
The entire miniplot with the flower also made no sense and was never explained. We never saw it or were granted any clues on where to find it, and in the end it's just tossed into our laps for free.
All in all, it was just a bad scenario. Unorganized, unexplained, confusing, and with a stupid final fight. I refuse to run this at my weekly PFS game, it is just that bad.
I played this with a group of 4 1s and 2 2s. It was alright, and our skill checks were varied enough that we got through the investigations just fine. However, the fight with 5 Cybernetic Zombies was ridiculous. We were dealing with 3 on the board at one point, and with strong ranged and melee attacks, it can be a very lethal fight to low level characters. My DM actually played them suboptimally, just to give us a fighting chance.
This was a fun, enjoyable adventure, with enjoyable twists and thematically appropriate experiences. However, the flying mechanics are a pain in the ass that most PCs will fail. A good GM may choose to handwave some of these checks, to not let the players get bogged down by it.
Out of this trilogy, unfortunately, this conclusion is the weakest of the three. I wouldn't call it bad, by any means, but it's far from perfect.
Here's an adventure that can appeal to numerous characters. With interesting combats - including a very exciting final battle - interspersed with unique skill check challenges, many kinds of characters will find a place here in this scenario. Every single encounter, both in combat and where skills can be useful, is thematically fitting, and nothing feels out of place here.
My only stipulation is that it is very long, and you have to keep cranking out the developments as they hit the players. Especially with the last fight, which can very easily take a long time.
I played this at Paizocon and loved it, easily one of the best 7-11s in recent memory.
I'll preface this by saying that I'm not a huge fan of the beast races to start with. I like Catfolk, but overall I'm not particularly keen on the rest of these races.
This is by far the best Blood of the ____ books. Solid crunch from start to finish, with countless options. The Prowler at World's End, Fiend Keeper, Courser, Naga bloodlines, and Ancestor Eidolon really catch my attention, and everything else leaves me pleasantly surprised and intrigued.
There are a few hints to more lore-based information, and not as much as I would personally like, frankly. The feats also didn't particularly impress me, but I could be willing to look past this.
Overall, a very solid book that left me surprised by the quality content.
Having been a steadfast fan of Ustalav and Carrion Crown, I felt compelled to pick up this book, and I'm glad I did. I don't do a whole lot of reading, and I couldn't put this book down. Since the first pages it kept me interested and darkly excited. Suspense is laden in every page, and the grim setting and conflicts placed trap your attention tighter than a vampire's dominate ability. I recommend it to anyone who's a fan of gothic horror, Pathfinder, but preferably both.
A very interesting approach to the end of what is personally my favourite metaplot in PFS. Split into roughly 2 parts, one is very social, where players can get creative, and if they're thorough enough, can be personally damning if they're willing to bargain enough. Some results are more focused on the roleplay aspects, although everything does come with a mechanical price.
The second half is notably challenging, even with a four-player adjustment. It could prove fatal to an unprepared party, and when exploring the final location, make sure to give the players information through their knowledge checks, and be thorough in explaining what certain spell effects can do in certain situations.
As with many scenarios in Season 7, there is room for social interactions in this adventure, but there's also something for the people who love the danger, especially since the challenge almost seemed a bit much to me at times.
