Pathfinder Society Scenario #4–09: The Blakros Matrimony (PFRPG) PDF

I truly enjoyed running this game. It is a wonderful break from the grind of some adventures and really has some wonderful role-play experiences. This is NOT NOT NOT an adventure that should be run cold. It has many complex social interactions, a variety of NCP that you need to read up on. More than any other game I feel for this scenario you get what you put in. So do your players & yourself a favour and sit down with this and do a longer prep.

Great job putting this together! I highly recommend this game as a GM & Player.

This is an interesting scenario which suffers from some significant flaws in execution which marr what would be an otherwise excellent module. It is also a refreshing change from some of the more combat centric modules which PFS play has in spades.

As you can see from the blurb the players are specifically dispatched to attend the social event of the year, a crucial marriage to a member of the Blackros family. The party is sent as Emissaries of the Society with specific instructions to make the Society look good and impress the guests. This could work well however we immediately run into the central mechanic of the scenario, influencing NPC's.

The goal of the group is to impress at least three different npc's during the function while also dealing with various issues. Each npc has a weakness which can be exploited if you can identify it for a bonus but this uses up one of your opportunities to influence and these are already highly limited. Influencing an NPC is only possible with Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate. This creates our first immediate issue, those skills are only class skills for a limited number of classes. Given they are also Charisma based skills then only that leaves out even more people from meaningfully participating. Even if you arent a Cha dumping min/maxxer the average Monk, Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, Wizard, Rogue or Druid is going to struggle to participate meaningfully and thats before we even start looking at non core classes. I would have liked to see other skills being able to exert influence. For example there is no real reason why players couldn't butter up Nigel the Elf (really Nigel?) with Knowledge: Arcane by complimenting him on his work with the museum or Bedard with Profession: Politician by commenting on the Andoran political system. The aid rules could also have been expanded a bit to allow characters with fewer social skills to feel they were able to contribute rather than being hosed.

This brings me to my second major issue with the module. The DC's dont scale between tiers. A character fairly focused on social skills could be looking at anywhere between a 6 and 8 point skill difference between level 3 and 7 when accounting for skill points, stats, feats and magical items. I would not want to be playing this mod at lower level.

My third major issue is that the module is not scaled between groups of 4, 5 or 6 players. A group of four players will have a significantly more difficult time of things as you still have to make the same number of influence successes but now you have fewer people to do so and are less likely to have people with focused social skills.

This brings me to my fourth major issue. The greatest chance of success is with a larger table. However, this mod really demands that each player gets far more face time than you might see in a more combat centric mod. Trying to run this for a group of six in a four hour convention slot is likely to be next to impossible.

Fifthly there are a lot of npc's to keep track of and it would really help to have something to show the players to help them keep them straight. A printable sheet of face pics would go an enormous way to help in presenting the situation.

Sixthly the module only addresses what happens if players try to use mundane means to convince people. It doesnt address what happens if players try to use Charm Person, Suggestion or other means to gain influence. Given the nature of the PFS and the easy availability of such effects the mod really should address what effect using such magic provides and what happens if you get caught.

Finally the plot of some of the side events is really really thin. I appreciate that some of it comes from previous events but the justification given for the Barbarian actions is especially flimsy. There are also potential issues with the Faction mission relating to him which brings matters very close to the Dont be a jerk/no PvP rule as there is a real chance of players coming into direct conflict over that particular mission.

Overall I would recommend this scenario for people but with various caveats. If playing in an official PFS game then you had better warn your players about the focus of the module so they can decide what character to play. If playing in a home game I would recommend modding some of the Influence mechanic to make sure that more characters have a chance of being able to take part.

Finally I am always amused by how often the initial boxed text has some senior PFS official saying how the group are just the right people for this mission. I can only assume that Ambrus Valsin is trying to keep a straight face when claiming that the Cha 7 Barbarian, Wizard, Cleric and Rogue group are "more qualified than anyone else in Absalom to undertake this mission".

I ran this scenario last night and played it the week before. All I can say is that, with the right group of players, this scenario is truly epic. Far too often, players get into the mindset of "Go here, stab this." - taking that approach with this scenario will lead to failure. It is a remarkably RP-heavy scenario, but I personally like how it requires everybody to be involved and encourages creativity. Even the players who normally don't touch roleplaying with a 10-foot pole got into it. Our pirate gunslinger was spinning yarns about his seafaring days, our Dwarven barbarian was challenging people to drinking contests and our Elvish cavalier was keeping a running tally of the number of NPCs he had seduced.

Keep in mind, though, that this one also requires some GM creativity. Without thorough preparation and careful thought about the NPC's personality, it can be very easy to be caught off guard. This scenario is very demanding for GMs, who must play at least 10 different characters over the course of the scenario. For those willing to take the time and make the effort, and for those who love RP-heavy scenarios, this will be a huge hit.

I would also like to encourage future scenario writers to look at the Influence mechanic used as the core of this scenario. It is an extremely effective way of rewarding good roleplaying, and I can see it working in a variety of settings - masquerade balls, mysteries, Royal courts, legal courts...it has fantastic potential.

I played this last night and this is now one of my favourite PFS scenarios. I'd really like to see more roleplay heavy scensrios like this. Interacting with and learning about all the NPCs was great fun.

This scenario is going to appeal immensely to characters with good social skills and players who like to approach problems with some lateral thinking. It might be quite frustrating to players who just want to hit things or who are playing the wrong kind of character and either can't adjust or who get a GM who doesn't reward innovative solutions.

With a good GM and a good group (both of which we had) this is a 5 or 6 star scenario. My suspicion is that a bad group could dislike it and a poorly fitting group combined with an inflexible GM could be an utter disaster. To the extent reasonable I'd advise letting the players know in advance approximately what they're signing up for (a roleplaying heavy scenario with social skills being at a premium)

We played at L6-7 and the final combat was extremely tense. Not having access to all the toys that L6 and 7 characters generally have makes a HUGE difference. I don't know what the scenario states but I'd recommend that the GM be reasonably liberal in allowing players to attempt to circumvent the rules on the island and be at least reasonably equipped. Don't make the fighter cope with just a dagger if you can possibly avoid it.

On the other hand, our group of 4 DID still win that final encounter with no losses (and we'd used up a few resources before that final fight) so the GM doesn't want to go TOO easy on the PCs.

I played with my L6 Dawnflower Dervish Bard. My biggest problem was not dominating the scenario too much :-). If I'd read the scenario ahead of time and deliberately crafted a L6 character to fit it she wouldn't have been all that different from Alinza :-). Her wide set of skills and excellent interpersonal abilities were very. very valuable and her personality helped to focus the roleplaying and make it far more than an exercise in rolling dice. When we finally came to combat she was also pretty much one of the heavy hitters for the party. Admittedly, many of the security arrangements hadn't affected her at all

If you are I would highly recommend that you check out the Blakros Matrimony it has a refreshing amount of Role Playing and does not feel like the standard "Grind" that seems to be the norm for most Scenarios.

It was a blast to play and a pleasure to run.

Check it out!!