Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-21: The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment (PFRPG) PDF

I thought this was a really well-written, in depth adventure. I liked how it was written with suggestions of where to make secret rolls for characters. I feel like my players did have to stop and think about what was going on and how they were going to react.

SPOILERS:

I thought it was interesting that the main plot did not directly influence success of the mission.

I enjoyed running the encounters.

I thought the book treasure is a nice item.

I wasn't totally sure if the people in the temple realized they were in the tapestry and how they felt about that. Might have missed that information.

One of my players had (and used) detect evil. That really helped focus the investigation and how they players reacted to the NPC's.

Read suggestions to print adventure. Of course I ignored it. I was embarassed that I did end up wasting too much time going back and forth on the tablet referencing the map. At least print the map. Probably just show it to the players, really. There's nothing really secret on it.

I have to say I was surprised by this adventure. I got to a specific place in the location and was settling in for the typical scenario railroad into the dungeon to find the big bad. I searched for some time to locate that secret lever, panel etc to open the door to the crawl below but I didn't find it. That's because it wasn't there! This sandbox style adventure requires one to actually think and role play, not just "roll" play and swing that sword. I'm trying hard not to give anything away regarding the adventure so I will conclude by saying that I was impressed and happily surprised that I got to flex my role playing muscles.

This is quick honest review of what I thought about this scenario first as a player then as a GM.
As a player a this scenario has a lot of detail and was a bit confusing. After running it I can say that it is because it requires a lot of prep. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner judge.
As a GM I found it full of a great local with well fleshed out characters. It was a cluttered in it's organization which created a lot more work for me.
This scenario would have gotten 5 stars from me if it was better organized. I had a lot of characters and events to keep track of and if I had them all in one place with a suggested order of events it would have made it much easier on me for preparation even if things didn't happen in the suggested order.
I would recommend this scenario for experienced judges and experienced players. If you like running or playing high scenarios with in depth role playing I fully suggest it but if you are looking for a straight forward scenario or dungeon crawl I would say avoid it. Highly recommended scenario but not for beginners.

I didn't have as much time as usual to prepare for this scenario so my review might be slightly tainted. Usually, I read the scenario once, sleep on it (thereby being able to align the NPC motivations), read it again, sleep on it (understand logistics and other mechanics in play), go over it with a fine tooth comb (reading all the spells and abilities in detail), sleep on it (develop strategies and tactics), skim it, run it. So in all, I usually spend at least 4 hours over 3 days preparing a new scenario. However, for this one, I only had two hours immediately prior to running it to prepare. In perspective though, I do believe that this is still probably more than most DMs spend preparing a new module so I don't feel too bad. But I do feel that there is the potential I might have missed some of the subtler NPC motivations.

This scenario is basically another crazy cultist scenario reminiscent of the Feast of Ravenmoor (which I've played and read and am waiting for an opportunity to DM - after which, I will write a review of). Except instead of an entire village of cultists, these cultists live within a perfect white elysium. This scenario also introduced "Heresy Points" which created consequences to individual player decisions - I'm not sure if I liked these or not since they were only punitive (and not rewarding). The scenario also possessed a very open format, allowing the players to move throughout the scenario as they chose. It also offers ample opportunity for role-playing and creative combats.

However, despite all these traditionally good elements of a scenario, I felt as though it lacked believability. This scenario is supposed to be placed inside the Hao Jin tapestry. I have no idea how the cultists got drawn to this particular location or how this particular religion could have possibily flourished throughout the centuries. As such, I felt as though this particular scenario was written and then someone was told to "make it fit in the tapestry". Thus, this scenario felt very disjointed which I somewhat expect from a scenario within the Hao Jin tapestry but perhaps it was a little too much for me.

DM complexity - moderate
I'm an experienced DM in 3.0, 3.5 and PFS and spent about two hours preparing it for Tier 4-5. One of the things I also found nice was that the entire scenario's encounters fit perfectly on one side of a flip-mat. As such, I just drew the exterior prior to running and filled the interior as the players explored it.

Player complexity - high
I ran this scenario at Tier 4-5 for 4 experienced players who did not play optimized characters with an average party level of 4: they had very challenging time defeating the encounters. I felt this was somewhat indicative of the trend in PFS scenarios to be tougher and designed for 6 optimized characters. However, I also have a tendancy to run very optimized/intelligent mobs so it's possible that the CR was appropriate.

I just finished running this and it was a blast for both myself and the players. Tons of Roll Play opportunities and the depth of story background to support them. Encounters were challenging, but appropriate. There was good story pacing as well, it took a while for the players to figure out what was going on.

My only complaint about the scenario was the map. The description of the temple made it feel airy and open, while in actual play the map was cramped and not easy for players to navigate in combat. It just seemed that the rooms where small in comparison to the creatures who where supposed to inhabit them.

Besides that small quibble, an excellent scenario!