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Pathfinder Module: Crypt of the Everflame (PFRPG)

4.30/5 (based on 45 ratings)
Pathfinder Module: Crypt of the Everflame (PFRPG)

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The young heroes of the town of Kassen are ready for their coming-of-age ceremony, an old tradition in which they retrieve a piece of the eternal flame burning in the tomb of the town's founder. Yet when they arrive there, they find only the corpses of their fellow townsfolk, dead bandits, and mysterious animated skeletons. The novice heroes must brave the traps and perils of the Crypt of the Everflame, discover the source of the corruption that has awakened an ancient evil, and defeat a menace that seeks vengeance against Kassen and its people.

Crypt of the Everflame is a dungeon adventure for 1st-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's oldest RPG. The adventure map uses the same layout as the 2009 edition of Paizo's Flip-Mat: Dungeon.

This adventure is set in the forested land of Nirmathas in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but can easily be set in any game world. It can be used on its own or combined with its sequels, Masks of the Living God and City of Golden Death to create an even greater campaign arc.

ISBN 13: 978-1-60125-186-2

Crypt of the Everflame is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download (217 KB zip/PDF).

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4.30/5 (based on 45 ratings)

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5/5 —

Mediocre, Over-Lethal Dungeon Crawl

2/5 —

NO SPOILERS

I ran Crypt of the Everflame for a group of Pathfinder Society characters via play-by-post. The adventure ended in a TPK, the details of which would be spoilish. But suffice it to say, the encounters in this module are numerous and some of them are quite deadly. It's odd because the module is set up as an introductory experience (there are plenty of sidebars to help the GM with basic rules, the maps are flip-mats, and the adventure is stylised as the PCs' first). Crypt of the Everflame was Paizo's first module to use the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules, and it's fair to say they may not have realised how difficult it could be. In terms of story, it's a bit mediocre, essentially devolving into a standard dungeon crawl. I don't want to make it sound like it's terrible, but I will say I don't understand the nostalgia many fans have for it.

I'll also note the artwork is far from the high-quality standard that Paizo would later set, though some individual pieces are pretty good.

SPOILERS!:

Crypt of the Everflame is set in Nirmathas and begins in a small village called Kassen. Kassen's history is important to the adventure, as its eponymous founder's crypt is the main adventure site. The premise is that the PCs are residents of Kassen who have been mentored by local NPCs to take part in an important annual ritual called the "Quest of the Everflame"--a journey to the tomb of the town's founder to light a lantern which symbolises the town's survival through another winter. An appendix at the back of the module provides a map and brief gazetteer of the town, and longer descriptions of several NPCs who could serve as mentors. There's nothing wrong with Kassen, but frankly it's a run-of-the-mill fantasy village with little that distinguishes it from the thousands of others in D&D's history.

The adventure itself is divided into three parts.

Part 1 involves the journey to the crypt. The PCs encounter some illusory orcs conjured by the town wizard (the villagers traditionally provide minor traps and challenges during the Quest of the Everflame to make it more memorable for those who take part), spend their first night out in the wilderness (driving away some wolves in the process), and navigate a treacherous descent to the opening of the tomb. I think if the GM and players really got into the idea that this is the PCs "coming of age" and going on their first adventure out of the village, that helps add some flavour and role-playing opportunities to this section of the module. I also like that the module plays it straight with things like rations, finding campsites, etc.

Part 2 covers the upper level of the crypt. What neither the PCs nor the villagers back in Kassen realise is that this will be no ordinary Quest of the Everflame. Bandits recently looted the tombs of Kassen and his rival (Asar), which resulted in Kassen arising as a (friendly) ghost and Asar as a skeletal champion! Undead are now all over the crypt, and most of the villagers sent in advance to plan the tricks, traps, and puzzles have been slaughtered. There are twelve chambers on the upper level, and threats include things that a Level 1 party should be able to handle (skeletons, pit traps) along with things that could easily prove lethal to one or more party members if a roll or two goes poorly (like a CR 3 shadow and a CR 3 golem). There's also what turns out to be an incredibly nasty trap called the Pillar of 1,000 Arrows--it was responsible for the TPK in my game (the author of the module may have overlooked the fact that enough nonlethal damage can become very lethal under PFRPG rules). Not everything is dire on this level, as the PCs can discover a room with supplies customised just for them and meet a villager named Roldare who (if calmed down and made friendly) can describe what's been happening. Roldare explains that his sister has been taken below by an undead fiend, and her rescue is the extra incentive some PCs might need to keep going.

Part 3 covers the lower level of the crypt, and although I prepped for it, I haven't actually run it. Here the PCs need to deal with giant frogs, bat swarms, more skeletons, and then the skeletal champion Asar himself (a CR 4 challenge!). I suppose a really clever, cautious party of PCs could defeat the foes and survive the module, but I really think the number and severity of encounters is a bit unfair, especially for an introductory module. There are some clues in the lower level that could lead the PCs into a sequel module, Masks of the Living God, which I haven't read or played yet.

Overall, I'd suggest PFS GMs set an expectation that the PCs will be Level 2 before running this module, and other GMs run some background adventures to get the group up to Level 2 before using this. Starting a campaign with Crypt of the Everflame looks to be a harrowing experience unless there are a lot of PCs or the players are very experienced. As the story is pretty unremarkable, there are a lot of better adventures out there for starting a campaign.

4/5 —

Needs a bit of work

3/5 —

The quintessential dungeon crawl, and a very excellent one, but basically let down by little intrigue. It would have been much better if the dungeon bad guy has some major link to the town. For example, the big bad guy could be the mysterious wizard who lives in the town who has recently become a cultist and he may have wanted to challenge Mayor Uptal, and so to ruin Uptal's mayorship he decides to ruin the festival. That would have been much better. Although CotE links in to "Masks of the Living God," which is a superb scenario, itself with a good dungeon plus ample role-playing opportunities. Best to buy Crypt, masks and ALSO Fangwood Keep and with a little work and extra intrigue you get a brilliant start to a campaign. That's what I did and 18 real months into my campaign and the party are still being hunted by vengeful Razmir assassins even while they are in "Curse of the Crimson Throne" over in Varisia (via the also superb "Fangwood Keep.")

Tough combats, loose pace

4/5 —

Tradiction dungeon crawl, all fights with little roleplay. Many of them are challenging,swarms,incoporeals,constructs,poisons,and the BBEG, all of which can kill low level PCs.

However I wish for more roleplays... perhaps with time limit, we just keep taking long rest. I don't think that makes much sense.

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Sovereign Court
2 people marked this as a favorite.

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

Bitchin'?

Anyway, this sounds like a classic hook for a 1st level adventure, can't wait to see the final result!
Sovereign Court
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

woo-hoo!!!
Sczarni

Beta would be my guess since its scheduled in July and the new rules com out in august, yet it has "Designed specifically for the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules and designed by the new game’s primary designer" in it

or Bulmahn...
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
Cpt_kirstov wrote:

Beta would be my guess since its scheduled in July and the new rules com out in august, yet it has "Designed specifically for the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules and designed by the new game’s primary designer" in it

or Bulmahn...

Yes, this looks like the Keep on the Shadowfell of PFRPG. For some reason, though, I have more faith that this will be a good adventure than I had for the other, though.

Dark Archive
Nameless wrote:

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

Beginner? Basic?

Dark Archive
yoda8myhead wrote:
Yes, this looks like the Keep on the Shadowfell of PFRPG.

The B might stand for "boring"!

But more likely it stands for "badass"!
The Exchange Kobold Press
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Dudes, it's "B1" just like In Search of the Unknown. No sense of history I tell ya!

So, B for Beginner. 'Cause it's a campaign starter adventure.
Sovereign Court
Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Dudes, it's "B1" just like In Search of the Unknown. No sense of history I tell ya!

Will I get to fill in empty dungeon rooms with my own monsters and traps like In Search of the Unknown?

Nameless wrote:

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

It stands for "Ooooh, I thought you said 'Bathfinder.'"

Liberty's Edge Contributor

I thought the B stood for Bulmahn.
Liberty's Edge
Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Dudes, it's "B1" just like In Search of the Unknown. No sense of history I tell ya!

So, B for Beginner. 'Cause it's a campaign starter adventure.

lol..too funny!

Silver Crusade

BooYah?

nah couldn't be.....

RM
Sovereign Court
Nameless wrote:

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

Bitchin'?

James Jacobs gave the answer here:

"Basic Beta Bulmahn!

Anyway, yeah; all good reasons to call this adventure B1."

- Günther
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
yoda8myhead wrote:
Cpt_kirstov wrote:

Beta would be my guess since its scheduled in July and the new rules com out in august, yet it has "Designed specifically for the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules and designed by the new game’s primary designer" in it

or Bulmahn...

Yes, this looks like the Keep on the Shadowfell of PFRPG. For some reason, though, I have more faith that this will be a good adventure than I had for the other, though.

This is, in my opinion, the most fitting description so far!

Dark Archive
Nameless wrote:

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

Bitchin'?

Anyway, this sounds like a classic hook for a 1st level adventure, can't wait to see the final result!

When James poped into the chat to tell us they were putting up the new product descriptions I asked and he said it was for...

Spoiler:
Basic
Liberty's Edge

The small town of Kassen.
Can anyone please tell me where this town is?
Paizo Employee Director of Games
Farkle wrote:

The small town of Kassen.

Can anyone please tell me where this town is?

The town of Kassen is in Nirmathas.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
Sovereign Court
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm sitting around bored on a Sunday afternoon and starting reviewing all the upcoming stuff.

Boy, I sure am excited about this one! I can't wait...
Dark Archive
joela wrote:
Nameless wrote:

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

Beginner? Basic?

TSR B1 In Search of the Unknown & B2 Keep on the Borderlands FTW.

Boffo?
Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Dudes, it's "B1" just like In Search of the Unknown. No sense of history I tell ya!

So, B for Beginner. 'Cause it's a campaign starter adventure.

I'm glad someone said it! or B2 Keep On The Borderlands

c'mon youngins that's old school!!

and, BRAVO!!

Edit: guess I should have read a bit further...well that's not the first time I've tasted foot.. "ptttth!!" < spits>
The Exchange RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
Amardolem wrote:
Wolfgang Baur wrote:

Dudes, it's "B1" just like In Search of the Unknown. No sense of history I tell ya!

So, B for Beginner. 'Cause it's a campaign starter adventure.

I'm glad someone said it! or B2 Keep On The Borderlands

c'mon youngins that's old school!!
and, BRAVO!!

Edit: guess I should have read a bit further...well that's not the first time I've tasted foot.. "ptttth!!" < spits>

B2 should be 'Keep in the Cinderlands'. hehehe.

Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
joela wrote:
Nameless wrote:

OOO, a new classification. I wonder what B is for?

Beginner? Basic?

Badassery!

Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
yoda8myhead wrote:
Yes, this looks like the Keep on the Shadowfell of PFRPG. For some reason, though, I have more faith that this will be a good adventure than I had for the other, though.

Hehe I can't believe you just compared a Paizo product to Keep on the Shadowfell. You should be ashamed.

Maybe he was contrasting?
Dark Archive
Tarren Dei wrote:
B2 should be 'Keep in the Cinderlands'. hehehe.

link : )

Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Mairkurion {tm} wrote:
Maybe he was contrasting?

Maybe...

Dark Archive

I vote B for Bad@$$....

;)
Sovereign Court
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

any word on when we might see the final cover?
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
DitheringFool wrote:
any word on when we might see the final cover?

Generally, we try to put finished covers up about a month before the release. So you have a couple of months to imagine it.

B is for Buhlman!, that's good enough for me...

I'm curious why a 1st level adventure for the new system is full price instead of the "suck em in" $5.99 like Crown of the Kobold King
Sczarni
Xaaon of Korvosa wrote:

B is for Buhlman!, that's good enough for me...

I'm curious why a 1st level adventure for the new system is full price instead of the "suck em in" $5.99 like Crown of the Kobold King

I'm guessing that you mean $5.00 for D1.5 Revenge of the Kobold King? That is going for that price because

1) it is shorter and
2) it was originally printed as a free give-away for free-RPG day, and they are just selling the left overs.
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Xaaon of Korvosa wrote:

B is for Buhlman!, that's good enough for me...

I'm curious why a 1st level adventure for the new system is full price instead of the "suck em in" $5.99 like Crown of the Kobold King

I'm guessing that you mean $5.00 for D1.5 Revenge of the Kobold King? That is going for that price because

1) it is shorter and
2) it was originally printed as a free give-away for free-RPG day, and they are just selling the left overs.

Actually I was thinking of the print version of D0 Hollow's Last Hope...my mistake, I wake up slowly in the morning...LoL

Sczarni
Xaaon of Korvosa wrote:
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Xaaon of Korvosa wrote:

B is for Buhlman!, that's good enough for me...

I'm curious why a 1st level adventure for the new system is full price instead of the "suck em in" $5.99 like Crown of the Kobold King

I'm guessing that you mean $5.00 for D1.5 Revenge of the Kobold King? That is going for that price because

1) it is shorter and
2) it was originally printed as a free give-away for free-RPG day, and they are just selling the left overs.
Actually I was thinking of the print version of D0 Hollow's Last Hope...my mistake, I wake up slowly in the morning...LoL

That is the same deal as Revenge of the Kobold King it was a free RPG day giveaway.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Xaaon of Korvosa wrote:
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
Xaaon of Korvosa wrote:

B is for Buhlman!, that's good enough for me...

I'm curious why a 1st level adventure for the new system is full price instead of the "suck em in" $5.99 like Crown of the Kobold King

I'm guessing that you mean $5.00 for D1.5 Revenge of the Kobold King? That is going for that price because

1) it is shorter and
2) it was originally printed as a free give-away for free-RPG day, and they are just selling the left overs.
Actually I was thinking of the print version of D0 Hollow's Last Hope...my mistake, I wake up slowly in the morning...LoL
That is the same deal as Revenge of the Kobold King it was a free RPG day giveaway.

Yep—both of those were 16-page modules produced for Free RPG Day. (This year we're doing the Pathfinder RPG Bonus Bestiary instead of an adventure.)

Crypt of the Everflame is a full-length 32-pager.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

The product description and cover have been updated to match the finished product.

This is one of the best covers for modules line. Very nice.

Just out of curiosity, does the premise of youngins' going on their coming-of-age adventure require that all the PCs be native characters of the same age? Does this town support all the races the average group of gamers is going to want to play?

The set-up sounds kind of limiting so I was going to give this module a pass, but as the first part of a wicked cool sounding trilogy, I wanted to give it another look and see if there was more room for adaption than I'd thought.

Thanks.
Fletch wrote:

Just out of curiosity, does the premise of youngins' going on their coming-of-age adventure require that all the PCs be native characters of the same age? Does this town support all the races the average group of gamers is going to want to play?

The set-up sounds kind of limiting so I was going to give this module a pass, but as the first part of a wicked cool sounding trilogy, I wanted to give it another look and see if there was more room for adaption than I'd thought.

Thanks.

Look at the official playtest thread in campaign journals section. There are characters of wide age range.

Cover looks sweet. I like the new look/layout giving more space for the picture. It looks a little less "signature" without the solid color at top and bottom from the vertical stripe artwork or the older diagonal stripe artwork, but it gives more room for the awesome artwork and you guys have some awesome artwork. I'm just saying.

::blink blink::

There's an official playtest thread?
Sovereign Court Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
Fletch wrote:

::blink blink::

There's an official playtest thread?

Yep! Riiiiiiiight HERE!!

Sold.

It might take some goading to get my players to go along with the idea of being total newbies, but the pillows alone are worth it.

So are the pregens always the same in these (Valeros, Kyra, Merisiel and Seoni)? Or is there a chance that they'll throw in some of the newer iconics? It seems like most of the modules I've ever bought are just the standard Runelords heroes.

Not even going to get into how the iconics ended up growing up in Kassen...not even going to. But I mean...really?

Anyhow, I'm mostly just curious what iconics to expect since I'm buying the adventure to get the pregens written out using the new rules so I can use them for a release day game (so we can jump right into the game without the hassle of chargen).

EDIT: Okay so reading some of the playtest gives me some insight as to how to adapt the module to folks who aren't from Kassen...though still it seems weird that established adventurers from other lands would ever be welcome to partake in what seems clearly to be a rite of passage for their late adolescent townfolk. But at least in the playtest it seems like a fair workaround...

Also it makes me wonder if we're looking at this particular list of Iconics, or if the actual book will go back to the traditional four?
Grimcleaver wrote:
it seems weird that established adventurers from other lands would ever be welcome to partake in what seems clearly to be a rite of passage for their late adolescent townfolk.

Except they're not established adventurers. 1st-level Valeros, Merisiel, Ezren et al. have 0 XPs, just like any other 1st-level character. When they start at 1st level, you just have to ignore their backstories.

Sovereign Court Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
Joana wrote:
Grimcleaver wrote:
it seems weird that established adventurers from other lands would ever be welcome to partake in what seems clearly to be a rite of passage for their late adolescent townfolk.
Except they're not established adventurers. 1st-level Valeros, Merisiel, Ezren et al. have 0 XPs, just like any other 1st-level character. When they start at 1st level, you just have to ignore their backstories.

You don't even need ignore their backstory....you just expand on it, bringing their history up to Kassen. Just read Kyra Sief al Kiraan's profile. By doing this, Kyra became MY character, not just a copy of the iconic, and certainly not the same Kyra that found her way to Sandpoint.

Grimcleaver wrote:
So are the pregens always the same in these (Valeros, Kyra, Merisiel and Seoni)? Or is there a chance that they'll throw in some of the newer iconics? It seems like most of the modules I've ever bought are just the standard Runelords heroes.

I've seen different ones, but most of the early ones only had those because those where the only ones with stats for a good while.

I'm excited about this module, hope to get a chance to run it sometime soon.
Contributor

We usually pick different iconics for every module. Crypt's are Ezren, Kyra, Merisiel, and Valeros.
Sovereign Court

Having read the playtest reports, both here and on SKR's blog, I am concerned that this introductory adventure will also be an introduction to TPK for a lot of novice players.
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

The earlier they bite the ground and learn the taste of TPK, the better. This way, when they reach Xanesha, they will know what's going to happen. :)
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