![]() Sign in to create or edit a product review. Let me start by saying: I love it when the players get to know as much of the background as the GM does! More of this, please! GM Secrets are fun and all, but actually giving the background to the players at points was definitely a highlight! Fights were on the easier side in low tier, which is completely fine. There was a great, though rather obvious, investigation. There was a chase where the author made a great effort to include a variety of skills for each event. There was a lot of flavor text, which my table enjoyed, and the last combat was thoroughly enjoyable. Overall, not a single complaint, and some props to the author for including a large enough variety of skills that even one of my players that doesn't like skill challenges enjoyed the chase! This was a funny little romp, with some memorable characters. I can't ask for much more from a low level scenario, tbh! Disconnected at times, sure, but a great time all around. My table very much enjoyed this one. My only concern is that the hazards are a bit too damaging for a table of pure level 1 characters. Bad rolls could easily end this adventure early in that regard. Otherwise, the combats are fun with some well-flavored monsters and nothing here is too easy or difficult otherwise! Played this one in high tier. I agree with the other reviews here. For something that's a time sensitive scenario, it sure does run long. It just seems like there's too much to do in the supposed 4 hour time crunch of an average scenario. I could see this one having worked far better split into two scenarios closer to the feeling of the Opal of Bhopan series. In any case, the combats featured some very interesting creatures, and the combat didn't seem particularly over-tuned. Thank goodness. Our GM made it very clear that there was a hard time limit, but going into this without that clarity would likely have resulted in a failure. Overall, good combats, fun roleplay, but not enough mechanical clarity and WAAAAY too much to do in a 4 hour period. This scenario is honestly just random. The encounters don't seem to mean much, and most of them are so easy that it definitely adds to the feeling that this doesn't really matter in the long run. It's also not a good repeatable. There's not much that can change from run to run. HOWEVER, for all its faults, at least it's not as difficult and frustrating as most of Season 4 was. Boring, sure, but not actively harmful to my local playerbase unless the rest of the season stays this unimportant. ![]() Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-09: Killer in the Golden MaskPaizo Inc.![]() Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartCan I give 0 stars? Is that a thing?![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I have a new contender for worst PFS scenario ever. First off, 6 encounters. None optional. Starting off with one of the classic 1e to 2e transition blunders. Combat is not fast in 2e. Even when you try to make it fast. Second, multiple enemies that full on disable players, directly triggered by a rather damaging trap that isn't even factored in to the Challenge of the encounter. And then...once again, like most of season 4, the numbers on these bad guys means that the FIGHTER is struggling to hit. And that's just the mooks! And that's before taking into account how much these things debuff players. This really feels like a scenario designed by somebody who only knows 5e or PF1e. And the encounters are designed as such. Random monsters for no good reason, tricks and traps for the players to fall for, and interesting roleplay that's thrown to the side because there's too many encounters to fit into a 4 hour session. And to add to that, the story really doesn't make any sense. I was expecting something interesting, and instead got random plot threads that really don't work together. Steer far away from this one. I really, really wanted to like this one. But there's some glaring issues that literally left people fuming as they left for the day. It started great. Really fun non-combat ways of solving things. Clever puzzles. And then we got to the second area. What is with the inflation of these numbers? We had a table of average characters and couldn't hit. The stats for the fire encounter are ridiculous, especially in low tier. And that final fight...There's a big difference between a creature taking a penalty to it's AC, versus a creature being flat-footed. And those abilities? Most, if not all, of these should be either restricted recharge like a dragon breath, or two actions. This thing is just overtuned. And there's crit negation. STOP with the crit negation. Nothing feels worse than crit negation. I wanted to like it. It started great and then fell so flat it ruined the entire thing. ![]() Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-05: The Arclord Who Never WasPaizo Inc.![]() Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartTwo Fatal Flaws, but overall enjoyable![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I actually really enjoyed the scenario but I understand that this one is definitely not for everyone. There's lots of skill checks and lots of roleplay. If you've got a group that likes their combat, this one's not really going to interest them. That was a flaw for one of my players. The main flaw is that one encounter in particular within this scenario feels like it was made for a 3-6 scenario. It's REALLY swingy and REALLY dangerous for low level characters, especially those at level 1. The encounter seems much better at a higher tier, as it can't swing nearly as hard, but I legit almost had my first character death as a GM because of this one and how all the things added up. But overall, I enjoyed it, and most of my players did, too! This scenario did everything I wanted it to do. Had a great opportunity and variety with roleplay and encounters, though one of them did feel a bit out of place it was still short and easy enough that it wasn't that big a deal. The problem is, the beginning is an investigation that heavily promotes roleplay, but even though that's there, the scenario still included 3 pretty large encounters. We most certainly went over time with this one, and I was the GM trying to hurry people along while still giving adequate time to feel like the investigation was actually meaningful and player-driven. Honestly, removal (or even better, making one optional) of one of the encounters would entirely fix this issue. Overall, it's just long. Expect it to go an hour over if your party is at all interested or invested in the beginning roleplay. This adventure has some great framing and a fun atmosphere, though one that's arguably difficult to get across in a casual setting like PFS. The combats are reasonable, and though the scenario does really rely on Survival, the checks aren't difficult enough and the punishments aren't too bad either. I do agree with other reviewers, though. The last combat should have had more teeth to it. It was far too easy for a group even moderately ready to fight the undead of the area. A bit harder of a final encounter, and this would easily have gotten that fifth start, but the ending just feels bland because of how easily it ends. This scenario has it all. Good skill challenges, fun roleplay (including some of my favorite inter-table interactions), and combats that make sense and aren't too challenging or too easy. All in all, a wonderful low level scenario that ends with an amazing moral quandary. Highly recommended. The scenario really felt like a "hey look at these monsters!", and the map choice was definitely odd, but overall I found the scenario to be a fun yet mindless romp. It did not deliver on the maze. It did not deliver on its twist. It was a fun series of disconnected fights. And for once, after all of 2e's intricacies and complicated plots, it was nice to have a simple: "Go here, do thing. There will be enemies in the way." ![]() Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-17: The Perennial Crown Part 2, The Thorned MonarchPaizo Inc.![]() Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartWhew - we got lucky![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A word of warning! This scenario is VERY HEAVY on the dice! VERY VERY VERY HEAVY on the dice! Almost all of the treasure bundles are behind skill checks. The balance is all over the place. The fights aren't bad (until the SEVERE in the end), but all of the skill challenges are absolutely ridiculous! The first part is just debuffs on top of HP damage. Meant to exhaust healers of their healing. No no no. Bad. Stop. Don't do that. The following fight is alright. Nothing too scary, but still a good one. After that, a fight. Pretty easy. THEN a chase. Oh boy the chase. All of this entire thing is too brutal. DCs are way too high and require way too many successes. And then without much rest: Big final fight. Has a gimmick. Gimmick is fun. Gimmick is necessary. Gimmick can be GM fiated away after a round or two. We were literally 3 hp away from a TPK (Sorc and rogue down. Fighter at 3. Cleric out of heals and unable to do real damage) due to some surprisingly difficult dcs. Fail a will save? Guess you're screwed. Party is going to die. Fascinated without the typical weakness? No. No no no no no. Whittling down resources is fine. Doing it this way....not so much. ![]() Pathfinder Society Scenario #27: Our Lady of Silver (OGL) PDFPaizo Inc.![]() Our Price: $3.99 Add to CartCHOO CHOO!![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Got a fun opening scene, but the remainder seems a bit disconnected, and there's some HEFTY railroading. Overall, the scenario could use some modernizing, and it hasn't aged well. ![]() Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-24: Raid on the Cloudborne Keep (PFRPG) PDFPaizo Inc.![]() Our Price: $4.99 Add to CartDon't. Do. This. One.![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Almost nothing but stall tactics and badly designed fights that cause nothing but frustration to the players. Flyby attacks. Constant cover. Obscuring mists. Negative effects on PC crits. Etc. It's just a poorly designed set of frustrating battles. 4 breaths of life later, and we were STILL struggling on that second combat. |