strangepork's page

This book had the chance to go off the rails silly, and did not. It actually reads somewhat like a module, and I mean that in a good way. Yes there is plenty of "campaign setting" style material, but as you read it feels less like an encyclopaedia and more like a war story. Its actually pretty exciting for a source book ha!

Some of the monsters had to be a bit... non-standard, due to the actual lore, but the designers didn't take it as permission to go silly. There are no bizarre items, archetypes, weird gear that will make you cringe. Plus the artwork they used on p46 is a dead ringer for Nathan Explosion.

A lot of campaign settings do a good job with the lore but you don't actually want to read them - this one was fascinating and i couldn't put it down due to the story elements, history of Golarion i didn't know at all. great product.

It really deserves a 5th star, quality wise, but the oddball subject matter makes me a bit nervous that people will see the rating and not realize its somewhat "fringe" Golarion. As in, do not start brand-new-to-Pathfinder players in this setting.

the rise of the runelords cards are specific items you'd find in the adventure. There are two 'mask' cards, but both are unique, gorgeous, and most importantly, your players will actually find these works of art and get get the thrill of handing them a pic of the actual mask or sword they found.

Other item card sets i have are terrible - just generic items. No player will be excited to get handed any card from say Skull and Shackles.

But these setthe bar so high... gorgeous art, and items that are actually in the campaign. Your players will love being handed the engraved magic sword, or the gorgeous masks, when they find them during play.

I had bought the Rise of the Runelords item cards, and they are phenomenal! Great art, and every card is tied into the adventure. When we decided to play Skull and Shackles, it was a no-brainer to order these.

What a disappointment. These cards are entirely generic images. As an example, the rise of the runelords cards were specific items you'd find in the adventure. There are two 'mask' cards, but both are unique, gorgeous, and most importantly, your players will actually find these works of art and get get the thrill of handing them a pic of the actual mask or sword they found.

Skull and Shackles is basically clip art of a hardware store catalog. generic pile of coins. generic chest. generic peg leg. terrible.

If any of these cards were actually present in the adventure as something other than background scenery - like if the peg leg card was a spiffy cool peg leg from a pirate captain you battle - well id be all over it.

If your players don't know what a generic, not plot related, not magical, completely mundane hammer looks like, just go to home depot and buy a real one to hand them for the same price as these cards.

Having been very impressed by his first Pony project for Pathfinder, I decided to take a chance on this newest installment. Right off the bat I was glad I did!

My PDF version comes in at a hefty 122 pages, and very high quality artistically. This is not just an expansion of material, but in quality; it's a very good sign of things to come. The pages themselves have a very high production value to them, with a pleasant watermark along the borders. I was laughing immediately at the map of the world, clearly having been written from the perspective of a Pony! Good start!

They mention it in the intro, but it bears repeating, because it was what attracted me to the previous incarnation of Ponies for Pathfinders - balance. I am a giant foe of third party materials that seek to create must-have expansions or materials. I found the first iteration to be solid and fair, and something I'd allow as a picky GM. This latest version is no exception, I'm glad to say!

The addition of a Clockwork Pony was quite a treat, especially when I saw some of the balance issues addressed - they cannot be raised from the dead! It's this kind of forethought that makes me trust material from this organization - you can tell it is being written by no-nonsense GMs who wouldn't put up with nonsense in their games, and are not about to write it. Another example is the lack of Gunslinger ponies for obvious reasons - no attempts to stammer or wriggle them in somehow, the no-nonsense approach prevails and simply states "This is a troubling combination." Well played.

My favorite from the first version, the Gem pony, is back, and all of the ponies now have excellent full color art. It all has a certain... dream-like quality to it that starts to create a mood as you read. The style of the art does not just illustrate but enhances the material.

The archetypes are all good, except the Tribal Thief - it's fantastic. It's actually an ingenious take on the Alchemist! Honestly the majority of this particular archetype is not pony-centric, and I'd consider allowing a humanoid player to take it!

I am really glad to see this product is very similar to the first one - it is a unique creation, and not just copying and pasting Pathfinder basics and squeezing them into forced Pony equivalents. It is original, unique content.

The addition of Griffons, Cloven races, Butterfly-like, Wolves, Cat-like racial types... all are equally well done as the Ponies. Especially due to the art and maps, the world is really starting to come alive as a unique creation and setting, not just a supplement for Pathfinder.

And that's just the basics. There are sixty more pages of lore, history, gods, nations and towns, all to bring the setting to life as its own unique setting. This is a fantastic product. What also sets it apart for me, and adds to the list of things I might borrow for other projects, are recurring themes of unity, commitment, and sort of a group versus individual thing - you have to read it to get what I mean, but you'll thank me. It's not quite a new take on Alignment, nor is it restrictive or preachy, but it does raise questions - questions that add to the roleplay value of the characters one builds.

This product did not disappoint a fan of the first Ponies for Pathfinders work. It is more than an expansion of material alone, but it has birthed itself as a full-blown, independent Campaign Setting.

No track listings? Seriously?

Sunken Pyramid Review
Raging Swan Press

by Matthew Paluch

Let's start with the basics – while I do not know the specific background's of those involved, this product smacks of professional Printing experience. It is beautifully laid out and organized, not just focusing on art and frilly logos to impress.

The document is expertly divided into Chapters, and even has Appendices you will actually use, not skip! The table of Contents is thorough and specific, not just a few cursory entries to fulfill minimum requirements. In a nutshell, this Product is built from the ground up to be used on the fly at an actual game – the author's clearly know what it is like to GM and have to find information on the fly!

It also has something I had not seen before, but proved invaluable in a few key moments – right at the front of the book is a single page, summarizing, in order of difficulty, the CR of every encounter. It took me a moment to wonder when I'd need this, but it was indeed useful!

Another novel concept – a concise, two-page Glossary, before the main body. I had never seen a Glossary anywhere except at the end (where everyone ignores it), and I also didn't think it was a necessary feature, until I read over it. It was indeed a valuable tool, and goes back to the point I made earlier – this product was written by battle-hardened veterans, who understand that the flow of a game is vital. Information is placed right where you need it, when you need it. Without listing off all the items, let me just say the listings are actually more of the 'HMM' type situational stuff that might arise, as well as issues that clearly arose during play testing and required them to take a break to bust out books, ruining the flow. They learned from experience and now it's at your fingertips, right in the heart of the meat of the book, not stuck at the end as an after-thought (similar to their expert use of actually valuable Appendices).

While this Product advertises itself as a 7th Level adventure, I think they are selling it short. I would definitely build an entire campaign around this product. Trying to avoid spoilers, they went into great detail about the Ecology of the current residents – Sociology, Ecology, even Religion and common names! Before I even got to the rooms and descriptions, I was rooting for the monsters haha! There is plenty of material here to build a campaign. The major monsters are all given names and some background material, not just 'Orc Lieutenant' for example. PCs going through this will realize this is a personal war they are waging against an enemy's home with a name and a face, and stories to tell.

In addition, the locale has a back story that pre-dates the current residents. Much could be made of those folks returning to reclaim their Pyramid, possibly as a follow up if the PCs clear it and somehow activate a beacon to its ancient masters, or perhaps even a three-way battle for it, with the players having to use diplomacy or risk their enemies cooperating! There is a ton of room for a clever GM to tying this product to a whole additional level than a simple 'Level 7 module'.

The environment – under water – and the carefully laid out rules for adventuring within it had me tense and nervous from the start. Dark water, no use of torches, having to breath and live and rest underwater... dark, black, water, reeking of evil... The author's do not overlook the dramatic value of their environment and play it to the hilt. Your Players should be nervous before they take their first step inside!

Much appreciated as a GM, and once again showing the clear experience at Gming of the writers, a wide variety of adventure hooks are provided to get the ball rolling. There is no 'You are all broke in a tavern and see a help wanted poster that you are forced to accept.' like many hackneyed products. I found myself liking more than one and having a debate about how to even start this. Excellent.

THANK GOD! This module earned major points for this next feature – a Timeline. Events will transpire, mostly without the PCs knowledge, according to a chart and timeline. If they choose to waste two weeks traveling to a nearby town to rest or pick up items.... the Pyramid is not idle and time-bubbled whilst they dally. As a GM myself I feel this is essential to PC immersion; players must know their actions, or lack of action, has a direct effect on the campaign. A dungeon is not just a series of rooms on graph paper with a number in the middle of it, waiting for them to kick open a door. This feature, well executed, was a major contributor to my classifying this as a campaign over a module.

Each encounter has a simple yet creative set of scaling the difficulty up or down slightly based on party power. Refreshingly, it sometimes isn't just removing or adding one more guard. Often bells, whistles, or more intelligent suggestions are made instead of a mindless addition or removal. Very cool.

Now comes the source of frustration for so many Gms around the world – the tactics sections for each encounter. I am happy to report that this product nails it – smart, yet flexible, you will not be asking "Who on Earth wrote this?!? These tactics make no sense.” , as so often happens when less experienced folk try to write scenarios.

I almost skipped over the pre-gen characters at the end, but I am glad I did not – they are fun to read and very interesting! More importantly, playable. Another nice bonus on an already well-rounded product.

I recommend this product as highly as I can. Build a full campaign around it... maybe starting when players are lvl 5 or so and exploring the detailed local area, then having solid community ties by the time they are ready to enter the Pyramid. Then throw in the original owners of the Pyramid at the end, and flip the tables – now the Players are on the defensive!

Or just run it as a solid, detailed, spooky Sunken Pyramid, written by clearly experienced Gms who have gone to great lengths to make your play experience as enjoyable as possible. This has my highest recommendation.

Matthew Paluch
gedanken@egdeoftheworld.us

Difficulty was a bit high, but we ended up having a good nice dungeon crawl

That about says it all. Without giving spoilers, there are even ways to get around fights. This is the sign of intelligent writing, period.

Non standard allies, non standard enemies, interesting dynamics!

This module is not rocket science for sure. It is a fairly linear dungeon crawl with one fairly interesting combat, and some filler.

However it is quick, straight forward, and has no funny rules, making it idea for newer player and GMS.

If you play online, this has THE BEST MAP for dynamic lighting i have ever seen - those simple combats really became exciting when you couldnt see monsters that ran in and out of shadows.

Perfect for online play, perfect for newer players, perfect for people who want a 2.5ish hour scenario not 4-5.

But for table top, people who like lore, puzzles, and mysteries, and dont mind spending 4-5 hours to play a good scenario, skip this one.

This was a definite 1 star until the puzzle, then shot up to a 3.5. It had 4 star potential with very excellent writing, lore, 600 year old plots tied in... I pray that parts 2 and 3 deliver.

I honestly give the last 1/3rd of it a solid 5 star. Its just the fist 2/3rd are THAT BAD

I loved the lore, and the plot, and the mystery

The dungeon itself reminded me of Lets make a deal - pick a door! Except there are about 100, so you tediously sreach for traps and open doors for 8 hours. no clue (to my knowledge) are given other than 'randomly open everything'.

That about says it all. You get people hooked with two great lead up scens, then drop a paint by numbers.

This scenario was just beautifully laid out. Good but quick intro, lots of danger and threats from the environment, bringing a real Indiana Jone flavor to it right off the bat and keying us up for danger and action.

Without spoilers, a smart party can not only skip a fight but gain aid. Brilliant.

The end area itself - we ran this tier 10-11 - would have butchered me. I am still unclear how a 'regular' party would have overcome the obstacles. But that is part of why it was so fun - every encounter felt like it had a 'smart party escape clause' and I really was 100 percent mentally focused on every word from the GMs mouth, as it was clear we wasnt just reading flavor text... he was giving us subtle clues. And he didnt spoon feed us either - either you got them or you didnt.

The plot is excellent, and the faction missions make sense for once.

However as other posters have noted, some of the combats get a bit silly or tedius. There is one super cool trick that almost makes this a 4 star, but It cant make up for combat-by-numbers.

So long as you have a Gm willing to play the module as intended - to roleplay the goblins - and not just treat them as luggage, this is my favorite adventure of all seasons!

There is so much flexibility and opportunity for Gm involvement in this one. Their hands arent tied by terrible tactic sections per usual. With a great GM , we had a 5-star experience and the scenario made it easy. For a regular or not willing to put in th eeffort GM, this one may suffer a bit as it wont give the full effect.

Here is where season 3 shines compared to the disappointing paint-by-numbers of season 4. You have a rich background, multyiple choices as to how to proceed, some skills, some combat, and a sense of mystery and intrigue the whole time!

The mission, mystery, intrigue, intervieweing, were all very well done., the final confrontation, outstanding. the Moral dilemma that has no clear right or wrong at the end yet the party must somehow form a consensus... this was an outstanding play experience, and more than most good adventures, i feel my specific party's personalities all came into play and interacted to create something special and unique.

Although an extremely coolchase scene with very interesting mechanic swas included, my great GM had to fill in roleplay gaps to make it actually a scenario. this is yet another season 4 that feels slapped together like a college freshman's 5 paragraph essay:
This is my introductory parapgraph
This is my first fight out of nowhere
Here is another for no reason or build up
How about a third, no skill checks or anything to avoid.
And in conclusion, your faction missions were slapped on completely unrelated to the mission or any apparent Faction seasonal goals. "Go kill a Dragon. Also, my dry cleaning at Mort's needs to be picked up".

The Final boss fight had a very cool twist. Unfortunately, it was incredibly tedious and boring to get to. I lost count, but one fight not only had an annoying as hell creature, but it had 12-15 of them. We were never in real danger, just had to GRIND them down slowly. A chimp could play this, except eating a banana is more fun.

A perfect example of the 2 boring fights then big boss at end design school of no skill roles, flavor text, or point other than walk in straight line and kill annoying stuff until Gm says your suffering has ended

That says it all - this has a super neat nechanic involving city travel, and it is either easy or very hard based purely on party choices - great to see those types of elements added! we, of course, did every single mistake possible... and still had a blast. thats the sign of a good scenario

I will say, however, that a Gm who has done some extra preparation can fill in the gaps.

Be sure to sing your songs!! And play with your pets...

Yes you get railroaded bit, but there are some twists - including one that can cause players to be banned haha!

Definitely dont bring munchkins who dont listen to text!