A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 4–5).
Skelg the Ripper, envoy from the Land of the Linnorm Kings, lies wasting in his villa on the outskirts of Absalom. A frigid curse followed Skelg from his northern homeland and grips his bearish heart in its frosty embrace. As the bizarre freezing ailment pushes Skelg to the brink of death, the Society dispatches you and your fellow Pathfinders to uncover the secrets of the freezing curse before Absalom falls to its icy grip.
Written by Craig Shackleton
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
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I had fun with this one. It was one of the scenarios that had a compelling story that made me care about getting to the end. The characters were memorable and there was a real sense of heroism at the completion of the game. I like when Pathfinder lets me pretend to be a hero. :) My character was a newbie level 1 hiding behind the level 3-5 people so I don't remember a whole lot about combat, other than that I was only mildly effective, but nobody seemed angry or confused and nobody got murdered.
I enjoyed it a lot. I felt that it offered a decent spread of playstyles and encounters, and also offered everyone a chance at the spotlight. It also, in my opinion, had a very epic feel to it, involving an artifact-like item, and going far outside the rules (in a good way!!!) for story and plot elements.
This scenario also left me feeling like I (my character) had actually accomplished something in the world, and done something worthy of being written about. In many ways it has a classic movie sort of feel, the hero rising off into the sunset after all is done.
I honestly wish more scenarios worked under a similar model, and this honestly really shows the strengths and draws of an organization like the Pathfinder Society (beyond just thugs, graverobbers and above-the-law).
This scenario is fairly easy to succeed in, but I feel like there are levels and depths of success, and also unlocking more background that go beyond that for those characters that want that sort of thing. The Faction missions, (that I have seen) all seem very well written and very in-character with their organizations goals and beliefs.
My gang very much enjoyed this scenario. Unlike some scenarios, most of the backstory actually makes it into the interactive part of the adventure where the players can come to learn about it, and I think that enhanced their enjoyment. I had a player keep a counter for consumable resource, but didn't tell him what it was for, and it jumping by 10 every time it was used made them increasingly tense. The slow ticking away of the curse was very good for engagement, too. Indeed, worth the time to convert to modern pathfinder.
I can't wait until I have Internets at home so I can pick these up. Does anyone know approximately how many pages each of these adventures are? Either way, $3.99 seems like a pretty affordable price!
I can't wait until I have Internets at home so I can pick these up. Does anyone know approximately how many pages each of these adventures are? Either way, $3.99 seems like a pretty affordable price!
this one's 16. but three pages are dedicated to cover, small print and socitey submission form. and 2 pages are the faction handout, so 11 pages of adventure. and it's worth every last penny.
I can't wait until I have Internets at home so I can pick these up. Does anyone know approximately how many pages each of these adventures are? Either way, $3.99 seems like a pretty affordable price!
this one's 16. but three pages are dedicated to cover, small print and socitey submission form. and 2 pages are the faction handout, so 11 pages of adventure. and it's worth every last penny.
Excellent, thanks! I can't wait to run these scenarios. I am incredibly envious of all the people that got to play at GenCon! I'm going to have to try to make it out next year for sure.
Also, Craig, will you be writing more scenarios for PFS? Or is this the only one for now?
I hope to be writing more of these, and I hope I've made a good impression on the folks at Paizo with this one. I'm not sure how far ahead they have writers working already, but as of right now I am not scheduled to write another one. There are a lot of them coming out this year though, so maybe I'll get the chance!
I had an absolute blast running this adventure at GenCon. Don't forget that the adventures are tiered for levels 1 & 2 and levels 4 & 5. :)
i still don't get the tier 4 and 5 part. is it for people who choose not to run it now, but come back later when they're a higher level? or can people choose to start higher? since they get 1xp per adventure and level up in 3xp, they can only be level 2.33 assuming they run all 4.
All of the adventures for the next while will be tier 1-2 or 4-5. you can play them in any order, so theoretically, someone could play the upcoming adventures first and then these ones later, allowing the to play the higher tier version.
I played this on Friday at Strategicon's Gateway 2008 in Los Angeles, and it was FUN! I played a bard, and was worried beforehand that I would be underpowered and wouldn't be able to do anything useful because I wasn't a "core class" (Ft, Wiz/Sor, Cl, Rg), but I needn't have worried. Our group rocked!
Overall, these PS adventures are the perfect length, with just the right number of encounters. Our group played two (Frozen Fingers and Silent Tide) and there were no "dull spots" where the action bogged down or we had no clue what to do next. Excellent writing all around! And atmospheric too!
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Played this at GenConUK and had a blast (although that might have been due to having an Ulfen character and so being able to come up with all sorts of weird Nordic curses and insults while talking to Skeld). Very well done adventure (although they all were).
I hope to be writing more of these, and I hope I've made a good impression on the folks at Paizo with this one. I'm not sure how far ahead they have writers working already, but as of right now I am not scheduled to write another one. There are a lot of them coming out this year though, so maybe I'll get the chance!
Needed to do a bit of story editing- Skelg wrote a letter to the Adril asking for help, but failed to mention he was being held captive. Since that makes no sense, I mentioned that the letter went out before Bengierr's men came back to make sure he died in bed.
I played this in 2008 with Craig as DM at GenCon. I lost the character after the con and just found it. I'm going to use it and I cant find the chronicle sheet. Can someone tell me how to acquire a chronicle sheet from 8 years ago OR how much gold I would have earned at 1st level?