Pathfinder Society Scenario #4–16: The Fabric of Reality (PFRPG) PDF

Fluff: 2 Stars

The story is interesting, if railroaded. The NPCs are interesting, if a bit over-eager to roll initiative. The setting is just downright awesome.

Crunch: 2 Stars

The first fight would be much better with a map that allowed for the NPCs' tactics to function better. Also, be aware that this will require a lot of GM prep due to all the different things that can happen during the combats. That said, really cool mechanically as well, with solid skill sections interwoven between social and interestingly designed combat situations.

Total: 4 stars

I GM'ed this scenario a few days ago, and I'm left with mixed feelings. The plot is nice, but starts abruptly and can force peaceful characters to strongly reconsider their faction choice. I also liked the whole research and ritual aspect. It added a lot of flavor and made sure that casters are going to have a fun time.

For the more fighting-oriented characters, this scenario is also nice and challenging. The encounters can be quite painful, if not outright scary, and even the occassional trap feels like a true hazard. It's a shame that the whole procedure of how the research takes place felt a bit 'and now I as a GM have to explain the mechanic of how this works to you'. It broke the immersion a bit.

I also struggled with the first encounter. Simply put, the first map is a bit too small. It makes sense, but I had half my party just wait outside, contemplating if they wanted to enter, even when a fight broke out. Combined with the squeezing, it more or less made it a fight that just dragged on for a bit, and while it could certainly be fun, had a feeling of 'can we just wrap this up already?' to it.

The flavor is present in this scenario and given the right circumstances I can easily see parties having fun with it. The first fight is set up to be fun, but due to squeezing and the limited room doesn't really live up to expectations. That said, the scenario picks up the pace with fights later on and can certainly provide a nice session for everyone involved.

Played this at the low tier.

The first half of the scenario is nicely done and a suitable challenge (The GM must read the tactics properly! ) but unfortunately I found the second half rather a bore to play. Not enough happens and it's far too simple to get through.

I just ran this scenario. I was shocked as to how well the encounters are written for PFS. Each of the encounters are a legitimate threat to most PC groups.

This is a fun one to GM, since you have lots of tools at your disposal, and many interesting effects to put into play. It's mostly a straight forward meat grinder for the PCs, and even though the fights are hard, none feel cheap.

The idea of being able to meddle with the tapestry is a great one, and both the title and description had me pretty keen in anticipation into what a Pathfinder could do to change the nature of reality. While what actually happens left me in a little bit of disappointment, what the game actually ended up being was still pretty good fun set on a solid premise.

The game is a perfect mix of social, combat and skill-based encounters and, what I think PFS needs more of, a potentially shorter-than-usual game.

The only real flaw is that the scenario doesn't scale by tier for skill checks and after scaling down for 4 players, feels a bit too easy (and that's something I usually don't say - it's usually on the too-hard side of things). Worse again if both of these are in play.

Still, these are both pretty minor and players are unlikely to be terribly disappointed in what is essentially a fun playthrough with an interesting ending.