spectrevk's page

I already own the core rulebook, but I thought hey, perhaps I can make good use of some of the materials for new players, and get some cool custom Shadowrun dice while I'm at it.

Photos can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/gVEgW

Let's start with the dice. Not only are they not in any way personalized as "Shadowrun dice" (they're plain, super-cheap blue dice with white pips), but they were visibly chipped and poorly painted. I've gotten higher quality dice from various CCGs and board games. But the shoddiness doesn't end there. Literally everything in this box can be had for free, or for a better value elsewhere (or both):

The Quick-Start Rulebook is identical to the QSR that was released for free during Free RPG Day, and is still free from the Shadowrun website.
The "Edge of Now" book is basically just a few pages from the early chapters of the Core rulebook copy and pasted into a booklet with some new fiction.
The starter characters are different from the ones in the Core rulebook, but there are fewer of them.

Essentially, you're paying 33% of the cost of the Core rulebook for about 3% of the content. This isn't a good value for anyone already playing Shadowrun, and when compared to other "Starter Boxes" (Pathfinder's "Beginner Box", D&D5e's Starter Set, etc.) this isn't a good value for new players either. This is a shoddy, poorly-conceived ripoff that embarrasses the IP.

I've generally avoided buying individual modules, preferring to either do it myself or go with something more comprehensive, like an Adventure Path. I tried this one out on a whim, and I'm really glad that I did.

I think the complaints about the module being too single-minded are way off base; the module includes a lot of information about the town itself, the history of its founder, the people who live there, and the political divisions that lurk behind the smiling (or frowning) faces. And it's not just background info for the GM - there are numerous sub-quests (with xp rewards!) to encourage the players to get invested in the town and get to know people. If you're looking for a good introductory module for a new group, and don't want to commit to an entire Adventure Path, this is a great place to start.

I'm deducting one star becomes the reversible map, while showing a wonderful guide to the town, has perhaps the dullest possible miniatures map on the back. The module contains a lot of really interesting maps (that are often a lot of work to draw), and they chose to illustrate the simplest map possible. I would have appreciated a map of the Kobold warren much more than the auction house.

This product fails on many levels:

1. As a folio, the pockets are too narrow to hold 8.5"x11" paper without bunching.
2. The price is too high to seriously consider buying one folio per character.
3. The pages do not copy well, due to the light grays that are used throughout the booklet.
4. The Eidolon sheet has absolutely no space for listing Evolutions, rendering it useless.

Most Paizo products are well-engineered and an excellent value. This is an unfortunate exception. Unless you play Pathfinder Society games and want the nightly reroll, I would recommend against this.