Pathfinder Society Scenario #4–05: The Sanos Abduction (PFRPG) PDF

I am surprised this has had so many good reviews. The beginning and end are pretty good. I have issues with everything in between. There isn't even box text. You just move from map to map to map killing undead. That's it. I enjoyed the story. It just felt like it is the first draft.

Fun: (5) I enjoyed this scenario immensely.

Story: (3) This adventure’s story is straight forward, and not overly complicated. The only point of it that’s predictable is the beginning, and the end. The middle was entertaining.

Combat: (3) The only fight that I felt I challenged my party with was the BBEG in the end, but it was his mooks that did the most damage due to the super high AC 3/5 of the party had. They just smashed their way through everything.

Roleplay: (5) This is where this scenario shined. A good GM will ham this up to nines. If he doesn’t well…if you’re not a good GM what kind of GM does that make you…hmm?

Challenge: (3) There was no serious challenge to this adventure. It’s a fun romp, but doesn’t stress you in any real way. It was nice to see a new twist to an old enemy of PFS, but players are just too used to fighting this enemy to not be able to squash it handily.

Overall: 3.8 (4 star)
Venture-Captain Dan Luckett (West Michigan)

Perspective: GM twice. Rating 3-.

A simple linear plot. Good RP opportunity at the start with some detailed characters and then a minor side stream of RP.

There are a lot of unusual creatures to learn/play (I counted 10 spread across the two subtiers). Given the number of creatures there are a few issues to iron out so make sure you read the GM thread before running.

The opening fight is very tough at lower tier with 5+ players - with 4 players not so much. The big bad at lower tier is possibly harder than at higher tier as the template applied seemingly increases his key abilities - though minions are easier. Be ready for a really long and possibly PC fatal end fight. Marred by a scripted status effect that can have affected players sitting out the entirety of the big fight.

I have only experienced this one as a player, but I am very surprised by the number of high reviews. Yes, there are some interesting creatures to fight, and you actually find some useful magic items in the early encounters, which is a nice change. But, the adventure just felt like the kind of thing I would have thrown together in 7th grade by flipping through the monster manual and finding some creatures to fight that my friends had not fought before. Essentially, you walk through the woods and lots of things try to kill you. And as previously mentioned, you don’t even know that you are fighting the BBEG until it is over and everyone asks, “Was that it?!?” The NPCs have some prepared dialogue, but you do not really need to obtain anything from them through role-playing.

I was quite disappointed and would say that this was the first adventure that left me feeling like I wanted my 4 hours back.

Ran this at the 6-7 subtier, with a very mixed party.

I really enjoyed the RP aspects as the GM. Ignizi and Riddywhipple both have very unique and fun personalities, which made for a more engaging story. The other researchers with Ignizi didn't have as strong voices, but you can get them from the description boxes. The layered development of Riddywhipple through the scenario was a very good idea. The story was good, and the roleplaying was strong.

The combats were good as well. Even with a balanced 7-PC party, there weren't any cakewalk encounters for our group. (Optional encounter was skipped for time.) The final battle almost saw two deaths, but situational tactics kept the PC's alive.

My big problems for this mod do come in the combats, and it's only for the GM's running the game. First, the maps given for the second and third encounters (and the optional as well) are near useless. Some markings would have been very helpful on these maps for where Riddywhipple's stuff was, where the pegasi are supposed to be, where the players are coming from, etc., rather than just making a judgment call on where everything is. I completely RP'd Riddywhipple's "map" because of this. Second, while a lot of the creatures encountered are unique and fun to play, they require the GM to have three of four different books to run everything, which many GMs may not have. Also, I had to keep jumping between resources to keep up with the templates on top of the creatures, on top of the tactics in the scenario. This was VERY annoying. One place for everything would be SO helpful. Luckily I had just enough time this week to prep it all, but it's a lot to deal with. Simplify, please!

Even with the issues I have, those are all GM-technical stuff, and the story and roleplaying were strong enough to cover over the issues. Still 4 stars; I enjoyed running it, and will probably play it myself soon.