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Pathfinder Society Scenario #45: Delirium's Tangle (PFRPG) PDF

3.50/5 (based on 26 ratings)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #45: Delirium's Tangle (PFRPG) PDF

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4–5).

The Pathfinder Society owes Grandmaster Torch a favor and he's calling it in. It seems he misplaced Nuar Spiritskin, the famous minotaur prince of Absalom, and Torch needs you to find the prince before the city discovers that the minotaur is missing. He sends you deep beneath Absalom into a maddening maze of malign shapes, hideous creatures, and secrets that haven't seen the light of day for more than a thousand years.

Written by Crystal Frasier

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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3.50/5 (based on 26 ratings)

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Awsome concept, horrible execution

2/5 —

I just played through this scenario and oh how I want to give it a 5 star. BUt I am said to say I cannot

The back story is fantastic but I had to wait until the end to tell my players because the scenario never does. This really would be better suited as a full fledge module.

The maze has all the potential to be amazing but instead is just a bunch of skill checks, that are either to high for the party to get often or to low to matter depnding on group size and level.
The traps are interesting (besides the pit traps) but make no sense. computer operated door in pathfinder? WTF?!?

Finally the battle are a joke, the entire time the game promises a massive battle with a hundred enimies but fails to deliver more than one or two at a time. The Boss, like the maze is either easy to impossible depending on the party. We killed him in two rounds and with only one person even affected.

Again, I loved teh concept of this and was really excited to try it out but it failed to live up to the promises.

Puzzles solved by skill checks alone aren't fun

2/5 —

The concepts, ideas, and environment surrounding Delirium have great potential. Unfortunately, the execution of these concepts doesn't meet this potential, and what should have been a journey through the weird and fantastic, is in fact a stroll through the mundane.

The puzzles in Delirium are both solved by multiple (15+) consecutive skill checks that require very little in the way of player thought, interaction, or decision making. Rolling dice for the sake of rolling dice, until you get "10 successes" isn't interesting or fun (for me anyway, I suppose the other reviewers are easier to please). It's just 'meh'.

The maze:
In practice, the maze is either solved by:

1) A player "taking 10" and getting strongly assisted rolls, which allows the party to avoid all encounters in the maze (essentially the party automatically solves the maze).

2) The party encounters every filler encounter (which is also undesirable).

Either way, the maze is boring, which is exactly what the author was trying to avoid.

Although 'mazes are boring', mazes with a few simple puzzles that players can think about, are not boring. As much as "The Darkest Vengeance" is criticized for its (broken) puzzle, I think they did it right in the sense that it required some player input combined with some skill checks... now that's fun! The simple puzzles in Silent Tide are also fun. But this is not.

Another major problem I have with this scenario is that the players will never learn the (interesting) back story behind this scenario (unless the GM makes a major change to the scenario, or reads the back story to them at the end, lol).

Regarding the encounters, they're extremely easy, but more importantly, the majority of them aren't interesting. When I say the encounters are easy, what I mean is that six 1st level PCs could easily beat the scenario at subtier 4-5. I wish I was exaggerating.

Encounter details:

I would have preferred to cut the first two encounters out altogether, make the vermin non-combatants and allow the PCs to complete their faction missions. These encounters are just time wasters.

Regarding the maze, we're in a place that warps time and space, and the best we can come up with are... Morlocks and pit traps? Seriously? What a lost opportunity for some great storytelling. That maze should have had 1-2 simple (player solved!) puzzles combined with a roleplaying encounter (to tell us the story of the maze).

Regarding the optional encounter, it's a shame that it's optional since it's the most interesting encounter of the scenario! Great environment, great concept. Having said that, we're in a dream state and we fight... a giant leech? LOL. Again, with a little imagination, this encounter could have been so much more, especially because the GM can trash the PCs with very limited consequences.

The clever door is another series of consecutive skill checks, but it's more exciting than the maze because of the time factor. Since other skill checks are allowed to open the door (and the party will find a wand of water breathing), the encounter just seems dangerous when in fact it's not (it's basically for show), but I suppose it's better than TPKing your group.

The end encounter is simply too easy, it's highly likely the BBG will die in 1 round. I'm not sure why the author and designer didn't see this coming. His spell selection could be improved, for example being buffed with Mage Armor would help his survivability a lot. The box text is lacking as well, instead of being someone interesting, the BBG is just another crazy guy to kill. *Yawn*

I might seem overly harsh but unfortunately I just don't think this scenario will be satisfying to myself or my players (without major modifications). Everyone would leave the session saying "Is that it?". Not only was this scenario too easy, it just failed to be interesting. For me, what makes it worse is that the scenario had the framework to be something special.

An enjoyable romp through the sewars

4/5 —

A well balanced adventure for the most part. My only issue was the ending fight was a bit under-powered for our group. We played the 1-2 tier, so the higher one may be different. If you haven't played this one, it's worth it.

Fun to play and run!

4/5 —

Delirium's Tangle offers the player characters a well balanced array of challenges wrapped up in a classic dungeon setting, but with a rich enough atmosphere and background story to stand apart from the simple dungeon crawls. The combat challenges are varied and not too deadly. Furthermore, skill and ability use play a significant and well thought out part in the module.
Though the scenario features a solid backstory tied into current and past affairs of Absalom, the opportunity to share it with the player characters through roleplay or otherwise are not established in the core module, but is left up to the Game Master to explore. Bridging this gap could take this scenario from good to great. If you are GMing this module, check out some GM guide suggestions.

Well-executed dungeon crawl

3/5 —

Aside from some few rules errors, Delirium's Tangle is a well-executed dungeon crawl through a maze. The DCs seem a tad too high for Tier 1-2, and the combats feel easy regardless of tier.

The BBEG is an imaginative opponent who actually puts up a fight and isn't dead in just one round. Faction missions aren't all that good though.

I'm struggling to decide whether this is a 3-star or a 4-star scenario. It's something in-between.

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Announced!
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Awesome! Ever since Crystal's started blogging for Paizo I've been eager to see her name on something. I can't wait.
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

+1 Yoda. I hope Crystal does the art as well :)
Liberty's Edge

Is there a description yet?
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
emperor799 wrote:
Is there a description yet?

{scrolls up} Nope. Not yet.

We typically add the descriptions when the PDF goes live.
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Any news about this scenario? It is not visible from the list of Season 1 scenarios for the Pathfinder Society, no date given when the scenario will be available...
Grand Lodge

It was supposed to be available today, but since the folks are on the west coast, I doubt that anyone has made it into the office yet to throw the switch on this. Check back a little later today.

I have to admit though, I was just as eager to see it this morning too.

We don't specify a time when it will release on the day of release.

It should be out later this afternoon Pacific Time.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber

It might be worth checking what's actually displayed as the release date. Before it vanished from the page, it was saying it was going to be released yesterday in Auckland/Pacific time.

From experience over the last few months I've figured out that that means another day's wait past the given estimate before the release, but people could get frustrated by something like that.

Most scenarios release on the last Wednesday of every month Pacific Time. That's as specific as we can get, unfortunately. This scenario will likely be up in the 3-to-4 hours.

(And I say most because sometimes unforeseen things prevent the release of a scenario on time.)
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Paul Ryan wrote:
It might be worth checking what's actually displayed as the release date. Before it vanished from the page, it was saying it was going to be released yesterday in Auckland/Pacific time.

Right... we set the release date in the system but, by default, that date begins at midnight Pacific Time. I've adjusted it so that the system now expects a 6PM Pacific Time release for all Pathfinder Society Scenarios. (That's not to say that that's necessarily the time they will be released, but it should at least do a better job avoiding wacky date line issues like the one you pointed out.)

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
Joshua J. Frost wrote:
(And I say most because sometimes unforeseen things prevent the release of a scenario on time.)

The unforeseen things have been defeated, and this scenario is now available.

Ross to the Rescue!
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
yoda8myhead wrote:
Ross to the Rescue!

Don't give me too much credit. (The 'unforeseen' may or may not have been my fault.)

Can you get Erik to finish Requiem for the Red Raven?

All in good time. And by good time, I mean I won't release him from the cage with the computer in it until that good time has come.
Liberty's Edge Contributor

My very first PFS scenario, up and available for all. One of my friends described it a "steampunk elf bondage with cthulhu overtones," so I hope everyone likes it.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Crystal Frasier wrote:
My very first PFS scenario, up and available for all. One of my friends described it a "steampunk elf bondage with cthulhu overtones," so I hope everyone likes it.

That sounds ... disturbing.

goes to check it out

I did not prefer this module. It felt as though a 4th edition writer tried their hand at writing a Pathfinder mod. Instead of writing within the mechanics of the Pathfinder system the writer attempted to create many rules that either circumvented or completely ignored the base mechanics of the game, much to the dismay of the players I ran through it. Players who create their characters in the spirit of the game will be dismayed that their hard earned skills will be considered pointless.

I was, however, happy with the story that was set forward, only the delivery of that story missed the mark.
Silver Crusade

I enjoyed the scenario and will be running for my PFS group shortly.
The villain was definitely memorable. As was the objective and the path leading up to it.
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ran this at a local con this last week. It was a blast to run and the boss fight at the end was a bear!
Liberty's Edge

Ran this one, and I though the Tier 1 was a little under powered. The group of PC's breezed through the lead up, and had the final fight finished in 3 rounds. Honestly was tempted to fudge up the rolls to make it a bit more interesting, but since this was the first one I ran, I wanted to see what it was like 'out-of-the-box'. Satisfied, but could have been better.
Liberty's Edge
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Odzmye wrote:
Ran this one, and I though the Tier 1 was a little under powered. The group of PC's breezed through the lead up, and had the final fight finished in 3 rounds. Honestly was tempted to fudge up the rolls to make it a bit more interesting, but since this was the first one I ran, I wanted to see what it was like 'out-of-the-box'. Satisfied, but could have been better.

This one has one of the best end fights of any scenario I have ever run. Every time I have run this at Sub-Tier 1-2 (have not run it at 4-5) the end fight has been difficult and challenging. It is a very complicated encounter but if done well and right it can be very challenging.

Crystal Frasier has become my favorite scenario author.
Dragnmoon wrote:
Odzmye wrote:
Ran this one, and I though the Tier 1 was a little under powered. The group of PC's breezed through the lead up, and had the final fight finished in 3 rounds. Honestly was tempted to fudge up the rolls to make it a bit more interesting, but since this was the first one I ran, I wanted to see what it was like 'out-of-the-box'. Satisfied, but could have been better.
This one has one of the best end fights of any scenario I have ever run. Every time I have run this at Sub-Tier 1-2 (have not run it at 4-5) the end fight has been difficult and challenging. It is a very complicated encounter but if done well and right it can be very challenging.

Single enemy encounters can be a bit hit-or-miss. The tier 1-2 group I was in got through the module without any difficulty, which suited me fine. I thought the encounters were creative and interesting, which is the important thing to me.

I've run this a couple of times and enjoy running it. The end boss can be a lot of fun if the GM makes good use of his abilities. The first time I ran it I thought the maze skill checks were too hard, then I reread it and caught the find print. If 3 players make aid another checks and aid a 4th making the survival roll, the DC is pretty reasonable unless you have a party where everyone is WIS 7. I think transparency with the skill check options is key.
Grand Lodge

Played this yesterday at Tier 1-2 with a table of 6 PCs.

5 level one PCs and one level 2 PC.

Spoiler:

We cleared the entire scenario without taking one point of damage. 6 PCs and two pets. Not a single one took a point of damage. We got hit with Fascinate and Grappled by a chain. That was it.

The maze was a series of 11? skill checks. I think we failed three times out of 11. Never by enough to trigger a trap or encounter. One PC had a perception of +14 and another had a Survival skill of +11. Needless to say with 5 other PCs assisting we had a minimum of 20 to 28 before adding in the D20 roll.

The fight with the giant leech was a laugh. The environment and setup was great. Our GM spiced that section up with great flavor and role-play. But the leech went down in 2 rounds.

The only part of the adventure that ended being challenging was the water flow chamber. Two PCs got trapped together in the chamber without the wand of Water Breathing.

In summation, the skill checks were great but the combats were not challenging enough.
Grand Lodge
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Unexpectedly played this tonight. Good fun, although my oracle found herself ill-prepared for most of the challenges. Thankfully my wife's winter witch did the heavy lifting!

Played this tonight as part of a group of four. Skill checks and the pacing of the adventure was exhausting. It was the most stressed I'd ever been in a pen and paper game. I wouldn't recommend it.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Is this scenario still valid in light of 4–23: Rivalry's End?
Grand Lodge
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Yes.
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