A Pathfinder Society Special designed for levels 3-7.
An enemy of the Pathfinder Society recently found a hidden dungeon in a centuries-old siege fortress, but despite his best efforts to convert it into his base of operations, he failed. When a pair of Pathfinders encounter disaster while scouting out the entrance, the party must explore the first level of the dungeon to determine not just what attacked their comrades but also what dark power their nemesis nearly acquired.
Written by Jason Bulmahn.
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I imagine anyone who's played Pathfinder Society for a while will have heard of the legendary Bonekeep scenarios: a series designed to test the most experienced character optimisers around! Famously lethal (but with higher-than-normal rewards), these scenarios are not for your average, run-of-the-mill PCs. It was thus with a great deal of trepidation (but with plenty of Prestige Points for a raise dead) that I entered my completely-randomly-generated-multiclass character Jilla into a play-by-post game of The Silent Grave, the first of the Bonekeep scenarios. It was very exciting to play with a real sense of fear (usually absent from most scenarios), though I think the scenario wasn't as hard as rumour has it or the GM was taking it easy on us (or perhaps both) because we all made it out in one piece. I'd certainly like to play the next one with a no-holds-barred vibe and see what happens!
SPOILERS!:
The in-game premise behind the scenario is pretty simple: a crumbling white-stoned siege castle outside of Absalom named Bonekeep is ripe for exploration, and Pathfinders are the ones to do it. Two hundred years ago, Bonekeep was the fortress of a necromancer named Volzaras who planned to open a portal to the Negative Energy Plane under the siege castle, command an army of undead, and take over City at the Center of the World (Absalom). Of course, Volzaras' plan went awry; he was destroyed and his keep was razed. Various expeditions in the years since never turned up anything of interest in the ruins of Bonekeep, until two Pathfinders recently discovered a secret staircase to its lower levels. One was decapitated by a trap, and the other ran for help. The PCs are assigned by Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin to explore the place. Out of game, the PCs can only explore the first level of the dungeon, as other scenarios in the series are for deeper levels. This first level was home to the laboratories of Volzaras' apprentice, and have since been taken over by a ratfolk alchemist named Korsan.
The scenario is pure dungeon-crawl, with no NPCs, skill challenges, wilderness travel, etc. It's classic, old school, check-every-square-for-traps gaming that can feel very nostalgic to those of us who played in the era of graph-paper maps. The scenario definitely has some appropriately ruthless features: multiple creatures like caryatid columns and grey oozes that can destroy equipment (this happened early in the game I played and really limited one of the PCs who until then had the modern luxury of never needing to carry a backup weapon), combats that can get out of hand quickly with poor tactics or bad luck on the dice (an alchemist that buffs for five rounds can be scary), and some great traps (I love one trap that is armed only by the PCs adding their weight to a pedestal to disarm a more obvious trap). Disease seems to be a special theme of this particular scenario, as there are multiple ways to catch one and the scenario even includes a special GM handout to keep track of who has one and their progression! (and there's a negative boon associated with disease as well)
The Pathfinder experience it reminds me of the most of is Thornkeep, which came out after this, but that was also pure (and sometimes pretty tough) dungeon crawling. There must be some rules for running the adventure that are outside the scenario itself, as there's some references to time limits in the text (and for PBP, we were limited to a route of about half the rooms, chosen by the GM)
I certainly had fun with The Silent Grave. I wouldn't want hard old-school dungeon crawls to be the only type of Pathfinder adventure, but as a change of pace, it was great and escaping the first level came with a sense of accomplishment.
Lets be clear. I love thinking and planning my way out of things. Most scenerios seem to be built to be an easy mode so that people who are not that clever rather in RP answers or mechanical solutions can easily get by. This leaves power gamers and the overthinkers often lacking in real good material. Even with the random chance of dice. Bonekeep gives a very different picture.
My main toon, is not min-maxed at all. I have an off balance array and no particular strong build with a few strong traits and a bunch of average. We went in with a party of power gamers. However aware of the reputation of the Keep we had spent the better part of a week exchanging ideas for what gear to buy.
What we found was that the solution to the majority of battles where small items people gloss over in the Core Book's item list. While I don't see the permanent anti-boon as a real problem, I never failed the save and half the party came in either with ways to improve their save against it for extended periods of time (having actually made purchases based on being regular adventurers) and a good chunk where just immune.
What killed players was not a lack of tactical skill. It was not a ton of bad rolls. It wasn't even ungodly bosses. It was a lack of co-operation and preplanning. Some ran in, charging everything, enlarging forcing squeezing all over and giving the enemy greater advantages. Some, with no prior care for the party acted entirely on their own setting off traps after traps after traps ignoring what we had brought with us. Some ignored humble advice from experienced players and came with nothing more then the clothes on their back.
This is not that game. The entire thing is about resource management. We got passed the first two rooms with some intensity. The first rooms mechanic being scary to a party of melee warriors. The second room providing horror to those with low saves. For a handful of our party we easily handled it with our over preparations (I spent 20K gold before walking in on mostly potions). After that, we found ourselves faced with enemies who had powerful tactical skills and strong abilities. IF we hadn't acted first and completely negated their ability to fight us with a single maneuver.
For the prepared there are only two real threats. But you must come in expecting everything, ignore what monsters commonly have and be ready for the unusual. The party was almost TPK'd leaving me, the non-power gamer and a crazy built paladin to fight the boss alone. Not only did we take her down but managed to deal with two more rooms ourselves. Simply by thinking critically, acting tactically, and utilizing our resources. We completed all but one room, before we ran out of resources, healing, cures, potions, resists, protections, arrows, leaving us to finally flee taking the bodies of our fallen comrades with us.
Frankly it's an excellent and challenging game. As long as you got a level headed GM and level headed players. It is not the kind of game for the touchy, or the slow of thought. All around enjoyed. Especially the secret story connection to a prior arc.
Played this with seven players on the lower tier (I believe).
First off I was dreading this. So many comments about how nasty this dungeon is and yet I was a little disappointed that it wasn't like that at all. It was tough but not excessively so. It is actually quite a good traditional dungeon crawl.
We managed half the rooms before the time limit was almost upon us and we fled.
The only downer for me was that they want you to have several characters but the layout prevents that many being useful. My character (ranged slayer) was pointless throughout most of the dungeon because of lay out and corridors blocked with other characters. Tactics and teamwork aside certain character types will be next to useless here.
At present this adventure is only available for play at conventions. The plan is to release it publicly down the line, but exactly when is still being decided.
So are the rules for this the same as in regular society play? If my character dies, do I lose all, or do I keep what I won up till the point the character dies? Basically, if my character dies, do I get anything other than a dead character? I want to make sure it is worth the loss (in the event that the character dies)
So is Bonekeep for conventions only or can be run at local stores that have less then 50 tables? I'm asking, since Sniggevert said
" Who can run this?
Mike
Currently this is the 4-5 star/VO exclusive scenario. You need to be one of those or a Paizo employee to run this scenario...
EDIT:And is no longer limited to at convention play that was mentioned by John upthread, as the status of the scenario changed at the end of Feb. '14."
So is Bonekeep for conventions only or can be run at local stores that have less then 50 tables? I'm asking, since Sniggevert said
" Who can run this?
Mike
Currently this is the 4-5 star/VO exclusive scenario. You need to be one of those or a Paizo employee to run this scenario...
EDIT:And is no longer limited to at convention play that was mentioned by John upthread, as the status of the scenario changed at the end of Feb. '14."
This adventure is available for 4- and 5-star GMs, venture-lieutenants, and venture-captains to run in any setting; it is no longer a convention exclusive.
At present this adventure is only available for play at conventions. The plan is to release it publicly down the line, but exactly when is still being decided.
That quote is from 2 years ago. I assume that has been enough time to decide when this will be available to regular schlubbs like me. Any info would be appreciated.
Scenario-6-98-Serpents-Rise
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