A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 7th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7).
Reports from Andoran's Darkmoon Vale indicate that a new plague is causing the deaths of untold fey. The Pathfinder Society sends you there to aid the nymph queen in stopping the plague and finding and destroying its source. When the plague spreads to the human population of Falcon's Hollow, the need to find a cure grows more frantic. Can you save the many denizens of Darkmoon Vale from certain death?
Written by Mark Moreland
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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The concept was good. The setting and flavor of the story was good. The problem with this scenario is that while the main bad guy in the final scene has some punch, most of the monsters or enemy cannot stand up to a party of PCs built by serious and experienced gamers. I ran this module for a party of 5 with a cleric playing up from 4th level with two fighters at 6th and 7th level and a 7th level wizard. These PCs were all designed by experienced RPGA players. They were never really challenged. The plague zombie dire bears were useful in infecting them but none of the creatures that they faced after the first encounter were that much of a threat. I have found that I have to increase the abilities of the minions to make them a serious speed bump in the way of the PCs in most cases.
Ran this yesterday and it was a good time. Some scary encounters and I loved the whole plague thing. Really gave the players a scare. All in all a great time.
It was highly entertaining, I just ran it this past evening and really had a good time. I was freaked out the whole time about being infected, but it was a gross/crazy villain with psycho minions (who were mostly mercy-killed) that kept me drawn in.
If I had to choose one mission that really got me thinking about attempting to write a scenario, this one would be it. Its complex without being confusing, and it ran great for time. It just really suited my play style I suppose.
This scenario is all about using your character’s skills to survive. If you have a party full of big, dumb fighters you should avoid this scenario. If you have intelligent players and skilled PCs you might be able to walk away from this plague-fest. Like most Pathfinder Society scenarios the backstory is mostly wasted since the players never bother to ask “why” as they mow down their opponents. And mow them down they will. The fights are not challenging for the most part, which is the largest disappointment with this scenario. The maps are average. While visually interesting the maps don’t offer much terrain challenge or environmental effects. Scenario missions were also typical, with a couple exceptions. Campaign setting flavor is better than average, especially for fans of Darkmoon Vale. What really made this scenario stand out are the consequences for success or failure. All I can say is “It’s about time!”
I think that the players will really feel like they earned the reward if they succeed. If they fail, this will be a brutal lesson where survival will be its own reward.
Yea I have a query. I've ran two different groups through the previous modules that take place in Darkmoon Vale, and both groups loved it. I did however miss the "Carnival of Tears" module, and am now considering it for my newer group, since they are still low level enough to run it without drastically changing CR's and such. But in that readout it talks about the evil and uncomprimising fae that threaten the entire community. So my question is how, if I run my players through "Carnival of Tears", does it tie into "The Pallid Plague", where it says it starts off HELPING the fae folk of the area? Sure, eventually the people of Falcon's Hollow contract the illness as well, but I get the feeling that the players should already be well into the module before that happens. Orf is there something at the end of "Carnival of Tears" that leads into possible diplomatic relations with the fae in the future, and this simply plays on that? OR will I have to introduce that into the end of "Carnival of Tears" myself if I plan on running my players through both modules? Ok, so it was several questions, not one. I really enjoy the campaign setting, and would love to run as many modules as are out there for it, so I just want to be as well informed as possible before I spend my small amount of money purchasing them. I's appreciate any input on my questions, thanks.
This is a Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenario and is independent of the modules line. I'll let Mark talk about how this might fit in with the published modules at this location.
I wanted to let people who might see this thread but not the Gamer Connection one that Mark will be running The Pallid Plague at the Second Annual Dave Arneson Memorial Gameday on 3/27 in NYC. I'm kind of hoping no one shows for the game I'll be doing so I can jump into his - even though I'll need to make a new PFS character because Mark killed my last one, and his little dog too.
There are two factions of fey in Darkmoon Wood, one evil and one benign. In Carnival of Tears, the good nymph queen, Syntira, wants to help the PCs defeat her sister and her evil ice fey. She wants nothing more than to end the ongoing hostilities between humanity and her people, but old grudges die hard. Neither adventure assumes the use of another, but I think it would be fairly simple to add this to the end of CoT. Your PCs will have already met Syntira and you could easily have her contact them again after a little bit of time to ask for their help again. I wrote a little bit more about making the fey the primary motivation in the scenario (instead of being ordered to the region by the Pathfinder Society) in this thread, but am happy to address any specific questions you might have. I hope you enjoy the scenario!
Running through this adventure it went pretty well. There were a few issues though. Of course, any of these could have just been a misreading of a rule or missing some element as well.
Spoiler:
For the at least the 3rd-4th tier, the DCs for beating the plague felt too high. It felt like a PC dying from the disease was just as likely (if not more so) as them being able to survive the disease.
It them comes to the encounter with Laurel where she treats the afflicted. But there is a line saying. "once Laurel succeeds in curing the PCs (and Inor) of the disease, she now has the recipe for an antiplague concoction ..." which seems to indicate that she doesn't come up with the cure until she cures the afflicted characters. That feels like a sort of a catch-22, you only get the cure if you don't need the cure. Even with her help treating the disease, it didn't seem as though progress would come at a decent pace. Instead, it seemed like the likely result would be all the afflicted characters dieing without even the option the retreat from the threat claiming their life.
It was still a nice adventure aside from those percieved issues. I probably would look toward running it if I need a Tier 1-2 scenario, but only look forward to running the higher level tiers if the party has characters with magic that can stall or remove the disease.
Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Recently joined the PFS, and had my first sanctioned game last night. The GM chose this as the intro scenario as some members were new not only to PFS, but also Pathfinder RPG.
Spoiler:
I won't give away anything, but as a group of six, with three of us armed with missile weapons, and a fourth having one as back-up, I have to say it was surprisingly easy. As an Elven Wizard with a bonded composite longbow, I didn't even need to cast a spell until the end, and even then it was more "well I have it readied" than actually needing to use it. The HP f the opponents seemed rather low, as did their AC; though maybe we were all just rolling well.
Anyone else feel this way? My regular game saw much tougher battles and challenges at first level than what we encountered last night. It just seemed, somehow off based upon my experience with running the Legacy of Fire, and playing in two home-brewed PF games since PF came out.
So far I'm digging the story line. In trying to wrap my head around the skill challenge with Laurel I'd like to know if I should just TAKE 10 on her heal checks. At tier 1 she makes them every time! Is that by design or do I not understand how "take 10" works? Thanks.