Pathfinder Society Scenario #50: Fortune's Blight (PFRPG) PDF

I’m surprised how well this scenario has aged if you’re going to play this with a party of four. It’s not an easy excursion as is the case for other season 0 or 1 scenarios. You will actually find yourself challenged by some of the encounters. This is especially the case for the second encounter. Depending on your composition, I can see some casualties for sure. I guess it’s a great reminder to be ready for just about anything.

The storyline isn’t amazing or innovative, but it gets the job done. There’s a nice mixture of opponents and a couple of great opportunities to roleplay. In particular I’d like to mention the first encounter. Our party was warned and so we kept ignoring the NPC and ridiculed the entire situation. We were asking nonsensical questions and bickering amongst ourselves in a friendly fashion, which got everyone at the table laughing like crazy. We managed to discuss and joke in character amongst ourselves for over 15 minutes with the NPC getting more and more desperate. It was one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while, though I suppose you should have been there to really grasp what I’m trying to say here.

Again, this scenario aged well. The combats are still challenging for a party of four, more so that most of the other scenarios of season 0 and 1. The cursed item made sense but wasn’t too much of a hindrance. I think I’d actually recommend it to smaller groups, though with the warning that this scenarios has a nasty bite to it and shouldn’t be underestimated. Things can get scary fast.

I liked the idea here, and the first encounter (settled purely by roleplaying) was a lot of fun. However the second encounter simply killed the entire party. With our mix of characters I think that was more or less a forgone conclusion: they couldn't do enough damage to stop it from killing all of them, and it's impossible to get away from it.

There were also a lot of small annoying logic issues. The McGuffin item is played up as being a big deal but it's only a big deal when it's hurting the PCs--it's not useful or impressive otherwise. The curse is annoying without being flavorful. The Venture-Captain's information is more than usually useless--she knows both too much and too little. A building gets referred to as a "cathedral" and a "chapel" in alternate sentences--those are not the same thing! And most of the faction missions are really one mission split into two parts, so there isn't much to do with them. (Once you can get a piece of such-and-such NPC, getting two pieces is hardly an additional challenge....) One faction mission should properly represent an extended investigation, not suitable for the pace of play here.

On the positive side, the NPCs are really colorful and I like the backstory. I just wish it had gotten more chance to shine. Five PCs, level 5, with one of them a summoner so effectively six PCs--we abandoned the fight after two rounds because it was clearly too onesided. The player was particularly angry that there was no warning or time to prepare.

Not bad. Nothing super-special, but at least it's interesting.

Fortune's Blight was a short straightforward scenario. The scenario was simple, it didn't involve any sandbox play, and you are pretty much lead from encounter to encounter.

Blight can be a challenging scenario. It's especially deadly if the PCs have the wrong group composition or make the wrong decisions. The challenge level of the encounters can vary dramatically, depending on the tactics the GM uses and if he runs the NPCs correctly.

Imo, the story aspect of this scenario is overrated (the 'novelty' of homosexual themes is overused), but the story could also get lost depending on the storyteller. I found that it was very easy to get confused with regards to the story, especially if the GM reads the box text only.

There were noticeable stat block errors in Blight (in Sevenarches, on beach), as well a story inconsistency (the reason to kill Tylaca). If I saw this much with my naked eye, there are surely plenty more.

Regarding the recovery of magic items. If Pathfinders are going to recover magic items/artifacts, could they please be more powerful than +2 items? Sometimes it hardly seems worth the effort (1-3 months of travel, time wasted). Especially when several of us were using much more powerful 'artifacts' ourselves.

Length: 3 hours. Could take less/more time, we took our time, didn't have a lot of roleplay, but we finished combat quickly.
Sweet Spot: Both subtiers seemed appropriate for the story.
Experience: 6 players at subtier 8-9 (2 pregens). I also read the scenario afterwards.
Entertainment: Slightly entertaining. (7/10)
Roleplay: It's really up to the GM to add roleplay and liven it up. (6/10)
Combat/Challenges: Definitely challenging but not unique. A PC died even with 6 players at the correct APL. (8/10)
Maps: I didn't like the maps. Also, map packs and flip maps could be used. (5/10)
Boons: Best "boon" I've seen so far. Finally, something that makes sense. (10/10)
Uniqueness: Average. (7/10)
Faction Missions: Average. (7/10)
Overall: Short, simple, straightforward scenario, with a touch of deadliness. (7/10)

I think it's really up to the GM to liven this scenario up, convey the story in a simple and straightforward fashion, and play these deadly opponents to the best of their ability (especially for optimized groups).

The creatures in this scenario are fantastic. A thrill to run and the players enjoyed besting them and the trials it took to do so. They were let down by the story though. Since Pathfinder is all about the story I cannot suggest a GM pick this adventure as written.

This is no reflection on Adam’s work over-all which I enjoy.