Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-01: The Frostfur Captives (PFRPG) PDF

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for Levels 1–5.

Tasked with escorting a group of goblin prisoners from their camp to civilization for interrogation by the Pathfinder Society, you must protect them not only from the beasts and hazards of the wilderness, but themselves.

Written by Jim Groves.

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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Frostfur Captives

5/5

Played this at GenCon and really enjoyed it. Where there be goblins, there be fun! Lots of role-playing oppurtunity here to interact and "protect" the prisoners. And a spooky doll to boot!


goblins ftw

4/5

The antics of the goblins are awesome. The only complaint I have is that the optional encounter, which is 90% of the chronicle sheet, is entirely avoidable by people who, you know, act like they don't want to die horrible deaths. I mean, I haven't read the mod, I've only played it, so maybe there was an obvious hook that we just totally missed, but it seemed like doing the smart thing was the way to completely avoid getting this boon. YMMV.


Goblin Shenanigans

4/5

This scenario was nicely paced with a lot of action! The Grand Lodge faction mission was pretty vague and I needed to consult the GM for clarification. I enjoyed the opportunity for more roleplaying than the two scenaios I previously participated in with PFS. We were done in four hours and time flew by amidst all the goblin shenanigans.


The Goblins Didn't Start the Fire (At Least That You Can Prove)

4/5

A great scenario for newcomers and veteran players alike, Frostfur hits all the right notes with a solid mix of encounter types and the potential for inordinate amounts of laughter.

Challenge (3/5)::
The module is not particularly challenging at either subtier, though neither is it a cakewalk. The variety of encounters (see below) helps here, as it stops a one-trick pony PC from dominating everything. The GM can make the encounters a bit tougher or easier while staying in the bounds of the scenario by making the goblin captives more or less of a liability, which is a wonderful tool to have at your disposal.

Interesting Encounters (4/5)::
You get a wide variety of encounters in this scenario. Goblins sniping at you from atop a tower, with the added urgency of a signal fire to extinguish before it gives you away (with real, though not huge, consequences if you don't), a snowstorm, a corrupt troll that you can talk, trick, or even wrestle your way past, a creepy soulbond doll guardian that you can try to stealth past, and of course some humans and wolves. While some of those might not seem so special, each of these encounters is made more interesting by the inclusion of the goblin captives, who can provide amusing commentary, ridiculous complications, and more.

Roleplaying Opportunities (4/5)::
This scenario had a lot of opportunities for RP, and it requires the GM to be ready to play them to their potential. RP can be had with the initial rangers who drop off the goblins, several places in the village before crossing the ferry (though realistically probably only with faction mission-relevant characters), with the troll, at the lodge with the would-be ambushers, and of course with the captives themselves.
The goblin RP can make or break the scenario, and while the author provides some tips, you need to come to table with ideas of your own as well. A lot of the magic could be lost if run by a GM who isn't good at inventing goblin stuff on the spot, or especially one who just glosses over the goblins or turns them into a requirement for a DC X Intimidate check.

Golarion Flavor/Continuity (4.5/5)::
I'll admit--I've always liked Irrisen. My first PFS character is from Irrisen. Even Shades of Ice Part 2 wasn't enough for me. I wasn't disappointed by the Irrisen flavor in this scenario. The author made the most of the choice of country, including both obvious shout outs to Irrisen's distinctive features like the ice troll social encounter and the chicken-hut border guard dolls and Easter eggs like the Osirion mission's connection to the Ice Mines of Lost Hope.
The mission makes sense that the Pathfinder Society would be performing it, and the main mission coheres well from beginning to end. The final enemies have a believable motive and an understandable point, which is a refreshing change from the sometimes nonsensically-aggressive or wantonly-suicidal enemies that you see in other scenarios. It's actually a shame that you can't try to work this out with them, explain why you're performing the mission, offer to let them kill the goblins once the Society has its information, or something like that.
I debated strongly on giving this category a 4/5 instead of 4.5/5 for one issue I have, however. It has to do with the Grand Lodge mission (which I'm about to say how it's awesome in the next section, so stay with me while I explain why it was problematic in this section). There is just no way that the Grand Lodge should, in a non-verisimilitude-breaking way, be able to get their faction point if Taldor does their mission (or at least, there's no way in the Nine Hells that the Grand Lodge PC would be able to divine that they are not losing their point for this, other than by metagaming that there must not be a conflict between two faction missions). I know the missions aren't supposed to be mutually exclusive, and that's fine. So the Grand Lodge mission should have just been reworded instead to not mention the border patrol. As it is, you're likely to have conflict between those two missions at the table unless the GM breaks the fourth wall and tells the Grand Lodge player flat out "Don't worry. You can somehow complete your mission to not be spotted and reported by the Border Guard by charging loudly at the Border Guard, killing it, and taking its scrying focus that lets the people they're reporting to, the ones you didn't want to know about this, watch your every move." Now, as I'll mention below, the whole not knowing exactly what might break their mission is a fantastic aspect of the Grand Lodge mission in every other instance, and in the game I played of it, no conflict came up because there were no Taldor PCs, so we just avoided the entire encounter (Grand Lodge PC tense the whole time and then exhaling like he had dodged a bullet when we made it past).

Awesome Factor (4.5/5)::
This scenario has plenty of awesome. Irrisen, the goblin captives, (potentially) wrestling the troll, little hidden Easter eggs. And some of the faction missions too. Though I mentioned an issue with the Grand Lodge mission above in continuity, I would like to mention in this section why it was, other than the above, totally awesome. First time through this scenario, my fellow player, brother-in-arms for almost 20 scenarios by that point, was intensely into that faction mission like none he had received before. Always before (for his old faction, since this was at Gencon and he had just switched to Grand Lodge), he would make a check and do the mission. This time he had to prevent any incidents from happening. So every time someone went off to the side, it made him sweat, and he spent a huge effort of his sorcerer's ability tailing the other PCs, particularly the Andoran barbarian who he was terrified would start yelling in the streets of Harvest's End about destroying the slavekeeping jadwiga regime. The lack of knowing what might go wrong built up tension in a way he had never felt about previous faction missions.
Anti-awesome is only the amount you could lose from this scenario if playing it under a GM who doesn't use what's in here to its potential. There's a lot of awesome stuff that is semiscripted or unscripted, so it can be quite GM-dependent. Also it can be sad for a cavalier with a horse or dog to lose their mount (particularly the medium cavaliers, who don't get too many chances to have enough space for their mount already), but I'm for the simulationism as seen in the scenario over gamism here, as handwaving these pets to be allowed around goblins would make no sense at all.

Overall Analysis (4/5): I don't judge often in extremes. A scenario will truly have to be something to get a 1/5 or a 5/5 from me in any category. I know some reviewers tend to rate high, where a 3/5 would be a product they didn't like. For me, Frostfur Captives' solid 4/5 (it had an average of 4) means that the scenario is of excellent quality. This places it at just slightly above "Paizo average" quality for me, but only because Paizo's quality tends to be high, so I expect a high median quality from them. However, for you GMs, pass on this one, despite my high ratings, if you don't relish the idea of playing a group of goblin captives. Their portrayal is the lynchpin of this scenario.


Great fun to GM

5/5

Point of view: GM 3 times.

A great scenario choice to start the season. A solid role play experience and meaningful combats.

Takes a little more prep and is worth it to give the goblins some personality.

Runs great with 5 players though it can fill 5 hours (without the optional encounter) so you will need to streamline it in a short slot (there are a couple of not-core encounters).

I would make a general request that next season scenarios have two official optional encounters rather than one.

Note the encounters are well spaced out so you need to be on top of it to make it challenging, though the encounters lend themselves to this.


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1 person marked this as a favorite.

First! Looking forward to seeing this Jim.

Grand Lodge

The Scenario's are now going with two tier's from now on instead of three? Just curious? :)

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

One wrote:
First! Looking forward to seeing this Jim.

Thank you Matt!

I certainly hope people enjoy it. I've got my fingers crossed!

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

Do we know when this is due for release? It is currently showing as unavailable.

Sczarni

sanwah68 wrote:
Do we know when this is due for release? It is currently showing as unavailable.

All four of the 03-??? scenarios release at Gencon

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

Cool....Do we know if it is the first day, or (hopefully) the day before??

Contributor

sanwah68 wrote:
Cool....Do we know if it is the first day, or (hopefully) the day before??

It says the release date is August 4th, which is the first day of GenCon.

Scarab Sages

This sounds delightfully entertaining and probably frustrating as hell! Stupid little freaks!

Dark Archive

Liz Courts wrote:
sanwah68 wrote:
Cool....Do we know if it is the first day, or (hopefully) the day before??
It says the release date is August 4th, which is the first day of GenCon.

Unavailable?


Chris Ballard wrote:
Liz Courts wrote:
sanwah68 wrote:
Cool....Do we know if it is the first day, or (hopefully) the day before??
It says the release date is August 4th, which is the first day of GenCon.
Unavailable?

Sorry about that. This has been fixed. :)

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Where is this scenario set?

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Gorbacz wrote:
Where is this scenario set?

Irrisen!

Hope you enjoy it.

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Played it Thursday morning at GenCon, and our group had a blast.
Well done!

Spoiler:
Bull rushing goblins teetering on a 50 foot ladder is just awesome fun.

Liberty's Edge

I think there's a typo concerning the record sheet. The tier 4-5 gold is listed as Tier 3-4. Also, herding goblins wasn't exactly what I had in mind as a pathfinder. While my character thinks of it as an example of why the Shadow Lodge is gaining prominence, out of character I thought it was hilarious.


How many pages does an average PFS module have?

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

WongNumber7 wrote:
Also, herding goblins wasn't exactly what I had in mind as a pathfinder. While my character thinks of it as an example of why the Shadow Lodge is gaining prominence, out of character I thought it was hilarious.

It's interesting that you should say that. It's generally not considered good form to remark on feedback, but... I'm sort of curious which faction you played. That's a rhetorical question, but I'm curious nonetheless.

This will not spoil the adventure, but I am going put this in spoilers tags anyway.

Spoiler:
The Shadow Lodge faction actually touches upon what you're saying.


Oh what fun it is to play goblins! Spoiler Below:

Goblin Hi-jinks:
During the tower encounter the PC's got ahead of themselves and forgot to watch the goblins at the end of the battle. 3 goblins swallowed alchemists fire (2 lived, 1 died right then and there from spontaneous combustion). PC's had no clue why until they got to town and the goblins lit the inn on fire. Oh what fun!

Liberty's Edge

I played Andoran but it doesn't matter. It wasn't a comment on the specifics of the adventure at all. The Shadow Lodge in Season 3 tries to make sure individual Pathfinders are misused or mistreated. Being forced to babysit, as they were described in the blurb of the We Be Goblins module, "Pathfinder's most popular psychopaths" starts to feel like abuse...quickly.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Nanomd and Ace Smith! Thank you for your kind reviews!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Nimon,

My regrets that it got complicated! Thank you for your review, and I'm glad you enjoyed actual adventure.

To all: I was trying to mix up the notion of what is a wilderness adventure, or what a wilderness adventure CAN be. Hope you enjoyed it, or will enjoy it. :)

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Deanoth wrote:
The Scenario's are now going with two tier's from now on instead of three? Just curious? :)

I think so, yeah. Pretty sure I heard that somewhere; something about reducing subtier option confusion or something like that.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Jiggy wrote:
Deanoth wrote:
The Scenario's are now going with two tier's from now on instead of three? Just curious? :)
I think so, yeah. Pretty sure I heard that somewhere; something about reducing subtier option confusion or something like that.

I don't speak for Mr. Moreland, but I can tell you this as an author, if you're only working with two tiers you have a larger word count to work with. That can be a big deal.

We have a set word count, and certain elements are absolutely mandatory. If we're working with just two tiers, that is one less set of statblocks per encounter. Those statblocks count towards your total, even if they're not "text" in the strictest sense of the word. That word count can be re-invested in better and more interesting encounters and set-up.

Mark's reasons may be entirely different, but that is the practical upshot for the author.

The Exchange

I assume Ragna Lightstep and Sverrir Lightfoot are supposed to be the same person?

Grand Lodge

I believe that her name should be Ragna Lightfoot. Sverrir is only referenced once as is Lightstep. Go with...

Ragna Lightfoot
N female Ulfen ranger 7

Dark Archive

Had an absolute blast running Frostfur Captives this past weekend!

Spoiler:
The intro to the scenario says to remember that they are horrible beasts. It's pretty hard to keep that in mind when running them. My players and I love the PFRPG versions of the little freaks. I definitely downplayed the "evil" a little bit on their end. Since the PC's treated them better than they'd ever been treated previously, they were a little reluctant to be handed off at the end of the adventure, one of them going to far as to give his favorite caregiver a "playful" bite on the leg for 1d4 dmg!

My favorite improvised bit was how they "helped" in the last scene. The players forgot rule #1 and had them locked in the storeroom, but never thought to take the torches out of the sconces. Not wanting to leave them in the dark, they left the Initmidating half-orc rogue as a gatekeeper. So when the two Blackravens attacked, the goblins began grabbing torches off the wall and "helpfully" hucking them at the Blackravens while the rogue engaged in melee. Any Blackraven that fell to the ground for any reason immediately had to contend with five torch bearing goblins.

It was humorous, creepy, and bizarre all at the same time. Definitely a scenario where the GM should be allowed to "flex" a little and remember that he has as much right to enjoy the scenario as the players!

Liberty's Edge

I played and judged Frostfur this past weekend and really enjoyed it. The goblin hijinks were a blast and it was an otherwise unothodox PFS mod.

Spoiler:
I especially enjoyed the wresting match with the ice troll. My Ulfen brawler really felt at home in the module.

Sczarni

Feral wrote:

I played and judged Frostfur this past weekend and really enjoyed it. The goblin hijinks were a blast and it was an otherwise unothodox PFS mod.

** spoiler omitted **

I judged frostfur last weekend, used Chris's goblin personalities from this post (warning spoilers)Here

Spoiler:
They were so much more well received. Dung hurler followed any impressive shot with an improvised ranged attack of his own (and rolled a 20 twice). Corpselicker was asked to lick the heads of the defeated goblins, and Ankleknocker decided to try to drill a hole in the head of a goblin caught and tied up during the first encounter
Grand Lodge

This went down a treat at our regular PFS yesterday - have left a glowing review. Great work. And one of our low level heroes even bravely withstood the Inflict Serious!

Dark Archive

Note there is an error on the chronicle sheet. It has gold for sub-tier 1-2 and sub-tier 3-4, when it should be 1-2 and 4-5. So the gold is low for the higher sub-tier.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

balakus01 wrote:

I believe that her name should be Ragna Lightfoot. Sverrir is only referenced once as is Lightstep. Go with...

Ragna Lightfoot
N female Ulfen ranger 7

I didn't notice this question when it was posted, but I can clarify now- or rather confirm.

Spoiler:
Ragna was originally Sverrir. The gender balancing was a bit off and Sverrir was made female in development and given a female name. That reference must have been missed.

Adventures should have a healthy mix of genders, but as my first adventure that hadn't quite sunk in yet (something I've since addressed). Mark did a course correction and made the ranger female, as was appropriate.

************

TRIVIA: The Blackraven leader at the end was named Osric, because that sounded like a good and proper Ulfen name. Plus, I wasn't trying to easter egg, but as a Chronicles of Amber junkie (by Roger Zelazny)- I was always intrigued by Benedict's mysterious older brothers, Osric and Finndo. "Osric" had a nice ring, and it sounded culturally appropriate.

But my diligent and sharp-eyed developer Mr. Moreland pointed out, "I don't think you did this on purpose, but you realize that OSRIC has become an an acronym, haven't you?"

Oops. :0

And there you go ladies and gentlemen; that's why Developers and RPG Superstar judges tell you to google your names. Sometimes you don't even realize you're doing it.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

@Casiel - thank you for your review!

Teeny tiny spoiler (not really, but I wanted to comment on the review)

Spoiler:
I just wanted to affirm what you said about time and length. I was warned by my friendly neighborhood Developer that it looked like it could run long, but I wasn't sure. I like me some role-playing. I'll make note of that in Scenarios going forward.

Thanks again!


I played this tonight for the first time and was completely frustrated. I was Grand Lodge faction and my faction quest stated "Don't let a single goblin escape". When getting this at the start of the session, you know only that you are escorting goblins - no idea what your encounters will be. The sense you get is that you are to kill the goblins you are escorting. Since you are unaware how the quest will finish, you don't really know if you are to kill the goblins (or allow them to be killed) or not.

How we played out the game was based on my interpretation that they were to be killed but the DM then stated otherwise when the moment came for their probable death. This confusion led to the death of PCs, including my own.

I certainly don't mind a PC dying because of the gameplay (especially at level 1) but when there is confusion like this because of badly worded material, it seems quite unfair to the players involved.

The tower section really needs a change of monsters or the quest more clarified as to WHICH goblins are to die. Even after playing and completing the quest, I still don't know what the original intention is.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

@Mishabear,

I'm sorry you didn't have a good time with the scenario! Just to explain:

Spoiler:
The overall scenario goal is to deliver your goblin captives to the extraction team alive. The Grand Lodge faction leader is literally the one who gives out the overall objective.

The phrase "allow no goblin to escape alive" should be more nuanced. To understand his meaning, its helpful to remember that no goblin is to escape your custody. Neverthless, the overall scenario requires you to deliver live goblins to the extraction team, a total number equal to half the number of PCs +1. So, a party of six PCs needs to deliver at least 4 live goblins at the end ((6/2)+1). So it is possible to lose a couple goblins, either from getting killed due to their own foolishness, or by having them run away from the PCs.

Its okay for an extra goblin to get killed, but some entirely different to allow one to run away and tell the Society's enemies what they're up to. What Ambrus is saying is "don't allow any of the goblins to escape alive."

Why? Because they could get back to the remnants of the **old** Shadow Lodge and warn them that the Society is still searching for them. It sounds like the overall objective and the faction mission contradict each other, but they don't really. You can satisfy both by just not allowing any goblins to escape your custody alive. And they can do that! They can sneak away, run away during a fight, or jump on the back of a wolf and ride away.

As for having two different groups of goblins, perhaps there was too much description based upon the race of your captives, rather than on the fact that they are your prisoners. You could play this same scenario out with modern rules and nothing but humans, and it would still be a valid story. In fact, I think its a common movie plot. Imagine if the goblins were part of the Mafia, and you have to deliver them as confidential witnesses- you might have to protect them from everyone, including other members of the Mob. Does that make sense? Also with it being Irrisen, where goblins have the rights of citizens, a competing goblin tribe makes a valid challenge, especially at the CR. Differing goblin tribes are notorious for hating each other on Golarion. They're extremely territorial.

I don't like to criticize GMs, but it sounds like the GM could have helped to explain this a little bit.

I hope that helps a little, and again, I'm sorry that it was confusing for you.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Bugleyman!

Thanks for your review!

The faction missions were a bit off for my taste but this was the first adventure I ever wrote. I looked at the faction missions towards the end of my plotting out the story, these days I try to think them up as I do the main plot and before I start writing the text.

I'd have loved for there to be some negative consequences to that one encounter, but there just wasn't room. The best I think of at the time was to have the NPCs respond to the threat of those potential negative consequences as if they were real.. because they would be without the metagame constraints set scenario real time duration and length.

Thank you again!

Sovereign Court

About the riding of wolves:

Spoiler:
How can they possibly succeed in riding away on a wolf in Tier 4-5 if they have no ranks in Handle Animal, a -2 modifier from negative Cha, and the DC is 20?

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

RtrnofdMax:

Spoiler:
There are a couple answers to this.

First, goblins have +10 in the Ride skill. Wolves are suitable mounts for goblins. They prefer goblin dogs of course, but wolves acting as mounts for goblins are time honored tradition that is even reflected in Bestiary 1 (check the organization entry). The differentiation between goblin dogs, wolves, and worgs is also a matter of what the sort of CR you want to end up when you're making the encounter.

Wolves are not suitable as mounts for most creatures, (again, I am citing the Ride skill and not Handle Animal) but they are for goblins.

Now I suppose one could argue that wolves are not "trained" to be mounts, even for goblins. If you want to take that tact, you're correct. As GM, I would probably hand waive that for the sake of story. It doesn't negatively impact the players directly. Of course, as the scenario's author I can also be said to be biased.

Secondly, they're goblins. They're not seriously intended to succeed. They're crazy and homicidal and certainly self-destructive. That's the underlying point of goblins, and certainly the underlying point of this specific scenario. They blow themselves up and set each other on fire if given the chance. Trying to ride a creature they're ill-equipped to handle is actually par for the course. And if you make it too easy for them to ride away, you're really unfairly screwing the players out of a chance to complete the mission.

Thanks for the comment and I hope this helps.

Sovereign Court

Jim:

Spoiler:
I think they may have added something since you wrote it. The text is as follows:

The Frostfur goblin are unafraid of the wolves, as the
two races have an affinity for each other. The goblins wail
at the slaughter of the wolves (even if the wolves are trying
to slaughter them in return). If the PCs are distracted
in combat, an unrestrained goblin tries to jump on a
wolf ’s back and escape by riding away. This can only be
accomplished with the Subtier 4–5 wolves (of Medium
size), but that won’t prevent the goblins in Subtier 1–2
from trying and failing miserably. A goblin need to
succeed at a DC 20 Ride check to stay on the unwilling
mount’s back and a DC 20 Handle Animal check to get
the wild beast to actually ride away with the creature on
its back. Any goblin who attempts to ride a wolf and fails
attracts the wolf ’s attention, and it diverts its next attack
to that goblin.

So they can make that ride check, but not the handle animal check.

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