Sign in to create or edit a product review. Well the adventure has a interesting setup, but then it goes down the drain:
Spoiler:
Having the whole party stealth against a DC 24 Perception DC is just insane, especially if compared to the still high (as everyone who wants to investigate has to do it) DC 16 of the lowtier. This design is just stupid, especially as it relies on Perception DCs that are vastly out of line of any reasonable skillchallange where the whole party must succeed. After 2-11 this means back-to-back catastrophes of scenario design.
Having a lot of the enemies being able to hit you on a 4 also feels GREAT and makes for FUN gameplay for everyone at the table and not just the GM… PLEASE do not use APL+2/3 encounters anymore … But even for GMs there is too many missing information to consider this a good sandbox. As a level 1 scenario it seems to be aimed at new players, but while 1 of the 4 parts is fine and has nice RP opportunities, the second part (spells) has a great setup (solve a situation with stuff given to you) the “solutions” teach the players things that DO NOT WORK within the rules. (Using stuff against a creature that is immune against it or using spells against illegal targets)
The final part not only has the betrayal but also this guaranteeing 2 hard back to back encounters which WILL kill new players.
Starfinder Society Scenario #3-16: The Vast Experiment: Fast ChoicesPaizo Inc.Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartInteresting Starship sceanrioThis scenario was quite interesting, and while short it had a good social part, one combat part and a good two-parter in the starship. The chase was a interesting changeup and worked better than the vehivle chases in previous sceanrios, as the rules seem to flow better and less new rules to focus on. This scenario was quite solid. I liked the setup of the final encounter. One small criticism regarding the chase: Spoiler:
While the DCs were quite well baleanced (GOOD) there were some obstacles with quite similar (and few) skills to solve which could be improved.
Starfinder Society Scenario #3-15: Frozen Ambitions: The Preluria ConnectionPaizo Inc.Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartSolid low level adventureThis adventure has a good mix of combat and non-combat encounters and an appropriate number of failsafes for a low level adventure. Also even as a part of a series it can work good without playing the other parts. After a lot of very dissapointing scenarios (espceially with problematic mechanics) this season this is finally a scenario with a good story and the mechanics to back it up. The callback to Reign of Winter was fitting and the interaction with the town was very well made. More of this kind of design would be nice.
Starfinder Society Scenario #3-12: The Vast Experiment: First FlightPaizo Inc.Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartWorst starship everWell this scenario is just tedious.
Spoiler:
against 2 highly manouverable drones with speed 12 (perfect), which hardcounter the ship if the GM does not softball.
These are also illegally built as they should not be able to carry their heavy weapons. The second encounter is ok-ish, as the enemy wanting to go close solves the issues of that catastrophe of a ship. The one ground encounter is not better as it uses the age olf mummy problem that should be known to cause wonky math, as using 5 overlapping auras WILL disable players no matter how low the DC is. Spoiler:
(At least the PCs are immune after the first save) And the Boss having Wis-Drain on a multiattack is exremely nasty especially as it should get 1-2 turns of free acting as everyone is confused (3 of 5 players after LOTs of rerolls at our table) The 2 Stars are ONLY for trying out the new systems which were fresh, if not for that it would be a 1 Star scenario.
Not only has this scenario a very wierd retcon - that does not make a lot of sense in character Spoiler:
Why do we forgive Nigel when we - the pathfinders - have to solve the messes he creates, and he did not pay one copper for the pathfinders injured in these missions. but also Spoiler:
The final encounter as written is massively overtuned, you have to stop monsters with stalling abilities (concealment and sickedn as aura) too fast (if a GM does as told you nearly can not save the exhibits if you are not rolling absurdly well) but becasue of a copy and paste error that should be obvious the monsters also gain a ranged attack they should not have... The scenario has a nice story and (in lowtier) solidly balanced combat encounters. Do more adventures like this. This scenario had a interesting story but it was a complete MESS in execution. There were massive editing mistakes, like copy and paste Errors, and missing skills to roll. The riddle is just plain unfair if you are not having English as a primary language. Now to the worst part:
For the story and encounters I would give 3 stars, but this skillchallangedesign will remove 2 stars for a final total of 1 star. This was a very interesting and challenging scenario. Especially the sceond combat was extremely interesting. This scenario has a interesting story and a very unique and interesting final encounter.
The setup for the scenario seems to be a fine follow-up to the earlier iruxi scenario, BUT… The number of enemies is completely out of line with what PCs can reasonably save against (hightier with adjustments). This was the worst developed encounter I ever played since the catastrophe that is 3 Seugathis or 8 mummies in PF1. This encounter design is prone to TPKs, unfun to play and even the incapacitation trait ONLY matters for level 6 players. While this would make a fine balancing for a encounter for a group of only level 6 players this makes it completely unfun to play but also WILL lead to one or more players going AFK for quite some time.
This encounter alone is responsible for a 1star review.
The second encounter showed a lot of potential, but the number of effects cause a bit of confusion at the table.
The scenario is ok-ish, but it does not capture fe feeling of the maze (mostly extraplanar stuff) and the revieal of the "traitor" was not very... interesting. Player review:
The scenario was quite good, the story was interesting, and the skill challenges felt fair. Especially allowing perception (so everyone is at least trained) was a VAST improvement compared to the other 3-6 two-parter. I played it in hightier and felt the combats more annoying rather than challanging. A big offender here was the Encounter B. I felt the scenario started a good plot"line" but the encounter felt slightly undertuned as the CR was too far below us. Spoiler:
I felt the saving of the allies was a bit undervalued in the secondary sucess condition. I liked the scenario, it explored a new facet of the world and had interesting NPCs and interaction. The scenario was a bit short but done well.
I liked the story and combats in this adventure and the skill challange in the middle felt different enough to make it novel. The scenario was good and the story was ok, but the briefing included the most facepalmworthy moment since a very long time. In-world the setup would not be solved by the level 1-4 PCs but by the stewards, especially if in the current plot with datch the society would not be able to risk the possible fallout. Spoiler:
As a player of the Swarm AP: WHY no dretchers?
Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-17: The Perennial Crown Part 2, The Thorned MonarchPaizo Inc.Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartThe worse part of the worst two-parter in all of pathfinderWell if it were not for the first part of this two-parter, this would be by far the worst scenario of the second edition, if you include the first part it only is the worst. This suffers from the same problems I already explained in that review: Having a connection to the metaplot that is only revealed to the GM and the players only get a complete mess of incoherent stuff. Having the GM explaining for half an hour what happened in the two-parter AFTER the game is not a sign of good writing. Other problems include the same problem regarding having everyone roll in skill challenges (and expecting over half of the players to succeed) MIGHT work in subtier 1-2 but in tier 5-6 the question is only if the untrained players fail or crit fail as they have no reasonable chance to contribute. This is BAD game design especially if you require MORE than half successes. This is just annoying and especially bad if 2 of the 3 blocks require you to use skills from the same set of Skills (all Wis based in one and all CHA based in the other block) Also some of the checks (for example the Athletics Check in A) are completely inconsequential. The Chase: Who thought this was a good idea? No scaling for high/lowtier and needing as many successes as players is just insane. Whoever did this part did not think about any the consequences this will cause. So this is just complete mess and one of the least thought out mechanics I have seen since the reverse influence in the wayang adventure in PF1.
And you should REALLY include in EVERY note to your writers for PF2 Scenarios: DO NOT USE SINGLE BOSS ENCOUNTERS. They do not work at all in the system. And doing one after an encounter and a chase which will have the players damaged without time to recover is just plain stupid.
I cannot in in good conscience offer or schedule this two-parter.
Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-16: The Perennial Crown Part 1, Opal of BhopanPaizo Inc.Our Price: $8.99 Add to CartPlease change the skill challangesThe metaplot is here somewhat relevant for the first time but the messaging to the players is not that coherent. The GM gets information, but it is not given to the players in a reasonable way. I think the skill part of this adventure was completely unfair.
The first encounter is just BAD.
After the forum ate my long review here is the short version: This scenario is the worst scenario I have ever played in organized play (281 sessions PFS and 56 sessions SFS) The encounter mechanics are needlessly punishing (AOE autodamage with autostagger), the setup for the "run away encoutner" is so bad that the players have no idea that they are expected to run away until it is too late and the one choice that seems relevant does not even have a reporting condition. I can only HIGHLY advice to never run this for newer players or in lowtier (where a crit can likely permanently kill a PC because of massive damage)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-09—Forged in Flame, Part 1: The Cindersworn Pact (PFRPG) PDFPaizo Inc.Our Price: $4.99 Add to CartThis scenario was very fun to play but it was far too easy in the lower tier. We managed to bypass every encounter but the final one (and after hearing what they were they would have been very easy). One thing I really like about this scenario is the skill mechanic in the final encounter and the debriefing, this solves some problems of the "I aid automatically" and "He has 40 bluff, I don't need to talk at all" The only real problem I have is that the encounters are too easy especially if you can bypass them easily and the final one is a not difficult enough if you consider that the players will likely have had none combat before.
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