A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4–5).
Once the home to a cult preaching self-sacrifice by immolation in order to achieve paradise, the Citadel of Flame in Qadira's Meraz Desert was presumably wiped out decades ago after Sarenrae dervishes led a crusade to end its morbid message. An enormous sandstorm swallowed both the citadel and the army attacking it, burying both beneath hundreds of feet of sand. Thought lost forever, the citadel's rediscovery prompts the Pathfinder Society to send you deep in the unforgiving Meraz to finally close the book on Qadira's most mysterious cult.
Written by Steven Robert
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 Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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Citadel has a nice variety of challenges, both combat and non-combat. Nice backstory. It also had some memorable moments near the end, especially for the Cheliax faction.
I found there was an above average amount of player strife in this scenario (due to factions), especially if you have a Taldor / Andoran player or Paladin in the group, which can cause a loss of fun.
I also found that this scenario can be a little rough on 1st level groups if they don't own a wand of cure light wounds. There's potentially a lot of damage in this scenario.
Length: Medium.
Sweet Spot: Both subtiers are good.
Experience: Player and GM, both at subtier 1-2.
Entertainment: Fun for everyone. (9/10)
Roleplay: Good roleplay. (9/10)
Combat/Challenges: Good. Neat concept on BBG fight, but rarely gets used (unless tweaked). (8/10)
Uniqueness: The encounters were unique and memorable (9/10)
Faction Missions: Very good, but players could disagree on how they want to handle things. Cheliax mission is awesome. (9/10)
Overall: Fun. (9/10)
Edit: Bumping to 5 stars since this is exactly the kind of scenario I like, with the exception that the last encounter could be slightly different and more challenging.
Imo this scenario is extremely risky if you decide to play up.
I played through this several months ago as a Cleric of Sarenrae and was very pleased with the module! I was able to connect with it in an extra special way, and unlike many PFS mods where the backstory ends up only good reading for the GM the players were able to really get into the why of what was going on. Three of the combat encounters were very cinematic and memorable! Only real downside to me is that even though it's set in Qadira it feels like it could have been anywhere. Flavor of Sarenrae and Moloch come through strong, Qadira not so much.
Very well described, evocative setting. Challenging, but not quite too hard. Great faction missions. A solid example of what high quality Society play is all about.
We played The Citadel of Flame in my bi-weekly PFS group about a month back. From a story perspective this is a solid 4 star adventure, but from a design perspective, I'd place this adventure squarely in the "two" category. The three star you see here is me trying to reflect that discrepancy. While the story was fantastically put together and a certain faction mission was absolutely spectacular, this module has at least one encounter which has a serious potential for a TPK. In hindsight, it was probably due to being required to play up a tier, so if you're considering this one, know that doing so is probably not a good idea for a number of reasons. What I mean by this is that if you're an over-sized group of 2 and 3's, Josh has stated you can continue to play at the lower tier; I suggest you do so.
The player that GMed this adventure and I had a fairly long conversation after our game regarding the problems we saw with its design and agreed as both a player and GM on similar problems. First off, the GM wanted to make sure I brought up the layout issues with the adventure itself. The adventure has the map descriptions up front in this adventure and requires quite a bit of flipping back and forth to run adequately. On a couple of occasions he became quite frustrated over trying to keep things straight. Secondly, at times the combats became frustrating for the players because they're difficult to present well. There is one noticeable one in the first half that can cause player frustrations and deaths if not handled properly. Make sure you've read the module over a few times and be ready for some quick thinking. We also felt modules which basically require classes (there are several out there) aren't always the best for society play. God forbid you don't have a rogue and cleric in your party because things get hairy fast.
I really wanted to enjoy the Citadel of Flame more than I did, but unfortunately for our group, it just burned out.
Could this module be easily run in Katapesh, for example as a "side-trek" adventure after 'Howl of the Carrion King'? Or does it have a lot of Qadiran elements that cannot be separated/modified without "destroying" the plot?
This one was my first-ever Tournament game I played, and I think it was a great one to start with. I enjoyed the challenge, as well as the flavor of the setting.
I can read this just fine on my desktop and laptop, but having issues viewing a few of the pages on my tablet. Any one else having issues like that on this or any other PFS module?
(based on 33 ratings)
