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Pathfinder Module: Carrion Hill (PFRPG)

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A dark urban horror adventure for 5th-level Pathfinder Roleplaying Game characters.

The strange city of Carrion Hill has long loomed over the surrounding swamps in eastern Ustalav, yet its rulers have shifted many times through the centuries. Often enough that only a few sinister scholars and curious minds know the true nature of the hill’s original inhabitants—vile and depraved cultists of the Old Gods. Yet this morning, a dreadful recrudescence rises from the depths of buried nightmare in the vaults below Carrion Hill. A monster stalks the twisted alleys of the city, spreading panic before it and leaving destruction in its wake. Can the Carrion Hill Horror be stopped?

Carrion Hill is an adventure for 5th-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG. The adventure features a mix of urban and dungeon sites, and draws its inspiration from the popular writings of H. P. Lovecraft.

This adventure is set in the sinister country of Ustalav in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but can easily be adapted for any game world.

Written by Richard Pett

Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set. This Pathfinder Module includes four pre-made characters so players can jump right into the action, and full-color maps to enhance play.

ISBN 13: 978-1-60125-206-7

Carrion Hill 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).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Subscription.

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(based on 19 ratings)

One of the very best!

ThreeEyedSloth — Feb 13, 2012, 04:31 pm

Carrion Hill is a 5th level adventure for the Pathfinder d20 roleplaying system. Written by the notoriously-evil Richard Pett, Carrion Hill plunges players into the depths of urban horror that is immediately recognizable as an homage to H.P. Lovecraft’s classic “The Dunwich Horror.” Expect plenty of cultists, insane citizens, and tentacles. Oh yes, there will be tentacles.

The plot gradually ramps in tension, as players are tasked with initially tasked with investigating a home that has been utterly decimated by something monstrous. The only problem is that witnesses claim the house imploded all by itself; there were no monsters or creatures present that were wrecking the home. As the mystery progresses, adventurers find themselves in the middle of an ancient cult’s cabal that may or may not involve the Old Gods themselves. It becomes a race against the clock to track down a mysterious yet powerful nightmare that is stalking the streets of Carrion Hill.

Again, in typical Richard Pett fashion, the adventure can be absolutely brutal. If you are a Game Master running this module, make sure you know the full capabilities of your party before launching them into it. But then again, a real fear of death might be the best way to portray the horrors of this book. Regardless, it remains one of the best that Paizo has released to date and is highly recommended for any group that can embrace a little horror into their lives.

(Full review found at: http://www.nerdrepublic.net)

Brilliant creepy fun

Brakkart — Dec 29, 2011, 01:56 am

I ran this as an all day game for 3 of my usual group earlier this week. We all had a great time and the game ran into the early hours of the next day as we wanted to finish it in one go. Easy to run, and with very good maps and flavour text that really sets the mood, this is one of the best modules I've ever had the pleasure of DMing and I would highly recommend it, even to those who are not fond of horror-themed adventures (none of my group are fans, I am though).

We used the pre-generated characters, and poor Seltyiel didn't get chosen, so his magic items got divided up amongst the other 3 so as to partially compensate for them being a man down. Used the fast track xp system, so they all gained a level before facing the endboss beastie, and even then it nearly wiped the floor with them, and it all came down to a few good dice rolls and some clever tactics on the players part... as it should.

Wonderfully creepy!

Kellendil — Aug 2, 2011, 01:05 am

I'm not a good horror-GM, I'm not good at scaring my players. But this module makes it easy to atleast repulse them a little :D

This is probably my favourite module to have GM'ed so far, possibly with the exception of "The Skinsaw Murders" also by Pett.

The only negative I have, is that the BBEG is a bit hard to identify as such, not that it matters :>

Carrion Hill

Angel Gabriel — Apr 9, 2011, 02:29 am

We have been playing this over a series of evenings and it has been really good fun. The descriptions and the atmosphere give the GM plenty of opportunity to build a creepy, threatening backdrop to the story. The adventure can run down several different paths after the first encounter, although the printed running order is, in my opinion, the best to build up the tension.

This is a wonderful adventure for those who like hamming up the roleplaying. I encouraged my players to take twisted and dysfunctional characters and that was a big help in keeping the atmosphere.

My players took a unusual route to the finale but the adventure still works brilliantly.

I recommend GMs to use the D20 rules for Sanity loss to add another layer of menace. [Sanity Points = Wisdom x 5. Roll percentile below that to avoid losing Sanity Points. Succeed = 1d3. Fail = 1 d6 or 1d8 or 1d10. Losing more San points than half your Wisdom Ability = temporary "nauseated" and gain a phobia for tentacles / undead / sharp objects / dark places etc.]

We want lots more adventures from Rich please!

Mr. Pett Delivers Again

Demiurge 1138 (RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8) — Nov 29, 2010, 06:59 pm

I'm a huge fan of Richard Pett's work throughout Paizo's history, so I was delighted to see his name appended to a Lovecraft inspired adventure set in a decaying old town that seemed a sister city to his beloved Styes from the Dungeon Magazine days. Let's break it down.

The Good: I very much enjoy the non-linear aspect of Carrion Hill. It's got a set beginning, an established final boss, but the middle can be accomplished in any order. One of the three set-pieces is rather larger and more detailed than the rest, and the assumption is that that will end up being the finale, but it certainly doesn't have to be that way.

And speaking of the final boss, the Spawn of Yog-Sothoth does not disappoint. The illustration is pitch-perfect, the abilities fittingly eldritch, and the mechanics for weakening him to be a suitable opponent are clever and seem like they'd work well in play.

The Bad: I never like it when the DM cheats on behalf of his monsters, so I would like at least a sentence of explanation as to why the zombies in the mud-pits aren't quickly scalded to death when a PC that falls in takes 1d6 fire damage a round.

The Nit-Picky: The character of Yarresh the ghoul doesn't do it for me. He might end up being fun in play, but he strikes me as rather unmemorable compared to the rest of the NPCs on display.

Final Thoughts: I very much enjoyed Carrion Hill, and am currently looking for an excuse to run it.

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The_Minstrel_Wyrm

Sep 20, 2011, 01:18 pm

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I know that the "Carrion Crown" Adventure Path is over/completed by a couple months (I do have all six parts) and I'm particularly late to this "party" ... but I just wanted to say I really liked how in part 4 ("Wake of the Watcher") of the Carrion Crown AP there is a brief suggestion on incorporating "Carrion Hill" into the "Carrion Crown" AP.

I decided that I am going to do this.

My group will likely be starting part 2 of "Carrion Crown" - "Trial of the Beast" (hmm... also written by Sir Richard Pett... interesting) this coming Monday... so I have quite a while before I need worry about inflicting "Carrion Hill" upon them.

But, since Carrion Hill is designed for (4) 5th level characters (but, say, "Wake of the Watcher" is designed for (4) 9th level characters) obviously increase the NPCs, monsters, etc to reflect this.

Spoiler:

Do you think that adding, say, 4 class levels to the Keepers, and the Ghast rogue would be enough? Too much? Oh, I'm also going to add about 6 HD to the chaos beast (and the advanced template). Too much there, or right on the money?

As I said, I've got plenty of time to worry about this. I'm guessing part 2 of "Carrion Crown" will take my group (roughly) 2 months (we meet weekly, unless I'm working on a given Monday) and I "recess" during December due to working retail. (Reconvene in January-ish). :)

Okay... that's that for my rant/ramble. (I greatly enjoyed "Carrion Hill" Sir Richard. Huzzah!

~Dean

The_Minstrel_Wyrm

Sep 22, 2011, 05:08 pm

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

And I should have mentioned, I'll have roughly 5-6 players for my Carrion Crown game (but I told them 15 point buy... no more 25 point buy crap). :P

So, I'm hoping the "Buffs" I'm considering for Carrion Hill to make it a challenge for 9th level PCs are more or less right on the money.

(Wow... I just realized... part 2 of Carrion Crown is by Sir Richard Pett, Carrion Hill is by Sir Richard Pett, and part 4 of Carrion Crown is by Greg Vaughn. My players are going to be so lucky to have back-to-back adventures from Mssrs. Pett & Vaughn).

That is all. Carry on with what you were doing.

~Dean

ThornDJL7

Sep 23, 2011, 07:45 am

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Along the same lines as the guy above me, but are the PC's expected to level during the course of this adventure?

The_Minstrel_Wyrm

Sep 25, 2011, 09:10 pm

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

ThornDJL7 wrote:

Along the same lines as the guy above me, but are the PC's expected to level during the course of this adventure?

Thorn,

without having my copy of Carrion Hill in front of me, but going (more or less) from memory... I'd say yes, the PCs are expected to level during the course of the adventure. I think the "5th level version" advances them to 6th lvl (although possibly 7th lvl).

So, it is possible to have the PCs start a "buffed up" version of Carrion Hill (for say, 9th level) and finish it at/around 10th level (possibly higher... like 11th). Which, admittedly, would require the buffing/increasing of parts 5 and 6 of the Carrion Crown AP.

That's just my thoughts on the matter however. :)

~Dean

The_Minstrel_Wyrm

Sep 29, 2011, 07:49 am

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Hi Thorn,

I was curious at your statement (and even though I made an attempt to answer it) I actually did some quick math (skimmed the encounters/CRs) and added the numbers up. (I didn't bother adding in the "orderlies" or the "lunatics" at this point... perhaps a more detailed run through later and I will)...

Spoiler:

anyway... it looks like something on the order of 28,200 xp would be earned by a group of (4) 5th level characters, which means they'd earn roughly 7,000 xp each... so not enough actually to cause them to level-up as I originally thought. And here again I didn't include the xp from orderlies and lunatics... but I don't think that would push it to where they earn another 2,000 xp each (which I think is the "difference" between 5th lvl and 6th lvl... or 9,000 xp that is).

Heh heh if you could follow my ramble there, then you are good to go. :)

But, in conclusion, an "amped" up version (for say... 9th level characters) should be roughly the same... they shouldn't level to 10th (but should be that much closer) when starting part 4 of the actual "Carrion Crown" AP.

At least that's my current "guestimate". ;)

gbonehead Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

Sep 29, 2011, 08:56 am

The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:

Hi Thorn,

I was curious at your statement (and even though I made an attempt to answer it) I actually did some quick math (skimmed the encounters/CRs) and added the numbers up. (I didn't bother adding in the "orderlies" or the "lunatics" at this point... perhaps a more detailed run through later and I will)... ** spoiler omitted **

Heh heh if you could follow my ramble there, then you are good to go. :)

But, in conclusion, an "amped" up version (for say... 9th level characters) should be roughly the same... they shouldn't level to 10th (but should be that much closer) when starting part 4 of the actual "Carrion Crown" AP.

At least that's my current "guestimate". ;)

What you say is true .. but you're assuming they have exactly the XP needed to reach level 5. If they're partway in even reasonably, they'll make it.

James Jacobs Creative Director

Sep 29, 2011, 11:19 am

ThornDJL7 wrote:

Along the same lines as the guy above me, but are the PC's expected to level during the course of this adventure?

The module doesn't assume that (but neither do stand-alone modules assume that the PCs playing them start at the minimum XP for their level), but if they do, that's fine.

The_Minstrel_Wyrm

Sep 29, 2011, 08:33 pm

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

gbonehead wrote:

The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:
Hi Thorn,

I was curious at your statement (and even though I made an attempt to answer it) I actually did some quick math (skimmed the encounters/CRs) and added the numbers up. (I didn't bother adding in the "orderlies" or the "lunatics" at this point... perhaps a more detailed run through later and I will)... ** spoiler omitted **

Heh heh if you could follow my ramble there, then you are good to go. :)

But, in conclusion, an "amped" up version (for say... 9th level characters) should be roughly the same... they shouldn't level to 10th (but should be that much closer) when starting part 4 of the actual "Carrion Crown" AP.

At least that's my current "guestimate". ;)
What you say is true .. but you're assuming they have exactly the XP needed to reach level 5. If they're partway in even reasonably, they'll make it.

@ gbonehead: No... I'm not assuming that they have exactly the XP needed for 5th level... Carrion Hill is a module for 5th level characters. No assumptions were made on my part about that. If a GM runs Carrion Hill for lower that 5th level adventurers... that's well and good. I was going from "here is the (likely) amount of xp that a 5th level group (of 4) will earn during play of "Carrion Hill". That is all. Oh. Wait. After a 3rd read I think I see what you were getting at. I'd still say I'm not "assuming" anything. I'm taking a guess. But you are correct gbonehead... if a party that is halfway between 5th and 6th level plays through Carrion Hill, they will certainly "level-up". If they have just achieved 5th level... then not so much.

*Thanks for assuming that I was assuming. Heh heh, now KaeYoss will show up again and have something witty to say about "assuming".

gbonehead Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

Oct 3, 2011, 05:37 am

The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:

*Thanks for assuming that I was assuming. Heh heh, now KaeYoss will show up again and have something witty to say about "assuming".

He must be sleeping. That's okay, I could do without the assumption :)

Richard Pett Contributor

Oct 3, 2011, 10:59 am

Y'gnaiih...ygnaiih!

Brent Barbee

Nov 11, 2011, 05:39 pm

Just wondering if Richard could clarify one item

Environmental Effect:

At Keeper Myre's Vats what effect does blocking the three chimneys on the roof have? Does this cause the building to fill with heavy smoke and is the smoke toxic. Is the keeper inside drunk enough to die from asphyxiation.

Manuelexar

Feb 10, 2013, 04:00 pm

Do you think this in viable as a tie-in between carrion crown 1 and 2? Leveling my pcs a little bit during part 1 and making them stop at the carrion hill during their travel to Lepistad?

Jadeite

Feb 10, 2013, 10:44 pm

Carrion Crown 4 has guidelines about placing it between CC 3 and 4.

Richard Pett Contributor

Nov 21, 2013, 04:39 am

Yay! Back in the top ten. Let the torment explode...

Sequel! Sequel!

Slithers away...

Heine Stick

Nov 21, 2013, 05:44 am

Richard Pett wrote:

Sequel! Sequel!

Oh how deliciously twisted fun that would be!

Grayn

Feb 13, 2014, 11:06 am

I have two brand-spanking new players to RPGs in general. They've said they would prefer a more mechanics driven ruleset, no problems committing to two to four sessions and are interested in a Lovecraft setting. They both have a background in mmos and enjoy RP-ing within those games.

The rest of my table will be filled with very experienced PF players/GMs.

Is Carrion Hill too advanced for such greenhorns even with the support of the rest of the table? I could scale back the encounters to suit the table, but are the amount of PF specific gameplay and mechanics (such as skill checks, understanding of the lore, required rp-ing, etc) too overwhelming for the new players to adequately enjoy the module?

I want them to enjoy module, but not to be regulated to wallflowers because they are overwhelmed with an advanced setting.