Pathfinder Society Scenario #4–07: Severing Ties (PFRPG) PDF

Just announced!

*reads description of the scenario*

0_0

This sounds awesome. I can't wait to run this.

This looks great. If Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment is any indication, this should be challenging and fun in equal parts.

This looks great. If Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment is any indication, this should be challenging and fun in equal parts.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

This sounds awesome. As an aside, this season's (4) theme has me giddy with delight.

Congrats Ron!

Congrats Ron!

Thanks! I'm excited about this being unleashed on (or near) Halloween.

"will be available today"

The suspense is killing me! :D

I'm glad I've got a week to review it before running it though.

The suspense is killing me! :D

You and me both!

This looks really cool Ron. Dynamic and proactive instead of reactive, if that makes any sense. Nice to see a different approach!

This looks really cool Ron. Dynamic and proactive instead of reactive, if that makes any sense. Nice to see a different approach!

Well, now I only want it more! Can't wait to download, print and break out my highlighter!

Final cover is up and the PDF will be available tonight!

Yep, need to snag this and begin prepping.

Just got it and looking it over now. Exciiiited! :D

EDIT: OMG!!! Metaplotz and stuff! :)

Just skimmed through it. Loving the

Just got it and looking it over now. Exciiiited! :D

EDIT: OMG!!! Metaplotz and stuff! :)

** spoiler omitted **

Yes, sure is.

Mergy wrote:

Just got it and looking it over now. Exciiiited! :D

EDIT: OMG!!! Metaplotz and stuff! :)

** spoiler omitted **

Yes, sure is.

The image for the map of Riddleport can't be extracted properly (I was trying to create a handout for the players).

It looks as though the X and Y dimensions have been interchanged; when I resize the image based on that assumption I get something that matches what is in the scenario.

A good idea ruined by:
A. inappropriately tiered combat.
B. illogical execution.

A. Whilst I like an interesting challenge, writers should remember to adjust the CR of an encounter with regard to the tactical situation presented.
A case in point being reducing the hit points of a monster, without affecting its attacks as well, is not enough to justify a lower CR. Especially when the situation presented makes it more difficult for the characters to attack.

B. I would appreciate it if writers remembered to look at their scenarios from both the point of view of the protagonists and the characters, and make sure that there is some way for the characters to determine what is going on. As opposed to this scenario when you are expecting a greeting and instead are killed out-of-hand for no discernable reason.

Yep - great concepts ruined by 'rule of cool' a lethal encounter that totally fails to account for the lower tiers. From what I can ascertain from other reviews, this seems to be only one of many but I dropped at the first of the stupid CL fights. Save or Die for T1-2? Sheesh.

So far, I am really not impressed or enjoying Season 4. I really wish that there were two seperate rating systems for Scenario, one for DM's and one for Players. Season 4 really seems to be focused on DM fun and banking on having the right party for each scenario, which is something that is not likely in PFS (and honestly part of what PFS is built upon).

This scenario is better than most, and don't take this the wrong way Ron, I do not mean this as a personal attack and am not saying your scenario sucks. I think that some of the newish changes to the assumptions in PFS (increased table size expectation for example) and a noticable trend to focus on challenging optimized players as well as focusing on DM's more than players/characters is really blowing a lot of the issues this (and other) scenarios are showing more out of proportion than they would otherwise be.

Some of the Faction missions, (more in this scenario specifically than general to Season 4) are really WTF, which seems kind of like Season 4 is really trying to implant a darker corrupted version of them, just because.

I played this scenario the other night. I really liked the story and the RP opportunities. It had potential, but it fell flat on a couple of key points.

I played this scenario the other night. I really liked the story and the RP opportunities. It had potential, but it fell flat on a couple of key points.

1. It didn't seem clear why the Lissallan (sp?) fortress was a dungeon. Wasn't the party expected to be bearing gifts? Why did we have to fight our way in?

Spoiler:

Mostly because you were not who you said you were, and because they didn't have a guard screening visitors. Basilisks don't care about allegiances. If you had run into a cultist you could have bluffed being Aspis agents. But since delivering the gifts isn't your actual mission, you have no incentive to do so. An "Aspis" attack on the cult suits the Society goal much better.

To answer Morgrym

I have played and GMed this module and think that it was a lot of fun, but certainly not appropriate for inexperienced players and/or level 1 characters.
The "errands" at the beginning were a lot of fun, and the role playing opportunities are fantastic. The first combat very manageable, but the two major encounters in the second part strike me as being way too harsh/lethal for level 1. It is too easy to TPK a bunch of starting PC's/new players, which might discourage new players from returning.
To remedy this, I suggest that future adventures with this planned level of lethality also include a tier 1 only option for encounters.

Wow,cannot believe this scenario was allowed at tier 1. Great idea completely ruined by ridiculously inappropriate monsters.

My thoughts on the inappropriately tiered monster:

In our game, (which the DM didn't even report for me), we had a brand new player get turned to stone, and Fail the System Shock roll to revive him with the blood, all after basically missing most of the scenario. It was terrible, and my understanding is that they quit playing PF entirely after that. Everyone else was miserable knowing that we where leaving out the other players and couldn't do anything about it. We finally decided to just send the Golem thing around to wreck havoc and walked out, and then the VL DM just sort of vanished, wouldn't respond to PMs, didn't offer Chronicle Sheets, though reported it for some players. Probably the worst scenario I've ever played in, and I'm one of the few that survived.

There is no "system shock" check for being restored with basilisk blood. That is only in the stone to flesh spell.

That is how he ruled it, and I want to say that he said that was the official answer on it based on this.

However, it does not say "as stone to flesh" when referencing the blood restoring petrified targets.

I said the same thing.

After criticizing the adventure, I'd like to say that it is a brilliant and fun adventure. It is easy to result in a tpk, the GM has to give the players a chance (like adjusting for level 1 characters). But I have played and run the adventure, and recommend it.

It's a stupidly written encounter in an otherwise fun to play module. Ron Lundeen had one thing in mind: How can I trick the players and get them pissed off...and maybe have them never come back to play PF again.

Even if you are prepared (I was), the way it's set up is to screw you anyways. You can gather information until the cows come home never be clued in... No one died: our GM acidently gave it away, but...

Ron Lundeen had one thing in mind:

Oh? Did he tell you that? Or did you use your brain scanner to pluck that information out?

This was my first PF adventure, a convention organizer did a great job of getting me interested in a session so I spent two hours creating a character which the GM asked me not to play when he arrived. After some diplomacy, he recanted and I along with 3 others --all level one players, began.

The story and setting were good, however the gsmeplay felt very linear. We were being led from one set-piece to another. It felt like we were locked into a video game where we had to figure out what we were supposed to do rather than deciding what we wanted to do.

I understand that this "fluidity" is a reflection of the GMs ability and enthusiasm, and ours was less than amiable and didn't show any real creativity. The only time he seemed to "brighten -up" was when he had somehow, somewhat improbably, worked us into a bad combat situation. At one point he had a tattoo artist run past the party in a narrow hallway, through a curtain, in order to sandwich our lead player who was engaged with another tattoo artist, then he called a friend over to gloat about this absurd maneuver.

The adventure ended with one killed by the stone golem in a single attack, one was turned to stone while at 0 hp and fleeing from the golem,one left the game, and one escaped.

Not a great deal of fun, but the other players were great, two of them seemed pretty experienced and they made things enjoyable.

The GM should be familiar with the material , creative in its application, and be able to make common sense adjustments, or better yet use a different adventure at a gaming convention if you are running level ones. This adventure clearly needs some level 3-5 PFs.

As far as the adventure itself, there is some flavor and emersion due to rich characters and a the complex nature of the mission; however the "go secure 3 items" and "oh look a contest where one of our items is a prize to the stranger who walked in off of the street to lift a table the best". Obviously not a coveted item. This type of linear setup made things feel a little juvenile, and seeing that most of the gamers are 30 and over, it seems like the writing could be a little less "gamey".

Not sure if I will play again, playing at a convention is nice, but to join a regular group would forces me to forgoe all other gaming; RPGs are definitely time intensive. But given a GM that has really prepared and shows some enthusiasm for the game, who knows.