Founded by a famous dragonslayer, the small town of Belhaim has become a sleepy rural community just off the beaten path, a settlement where everyone knows everyone and strangers are the talk of the town. But when Belhaim’s peace and quiet is shattered by the sudden collapse of the last standing tower of its founder’s castle, things quickly bloom out of control. Why were there bodies of kobolds amid the rubble? What’s the sinister secret behind the strange sounds of flapping wings in the night? And what’s happened to local wizard Balthus Hunclay, who’s not answering knocks on his door? The collapsed tower had long been an eyesore to the cantankerous old man—could he have had something to do with its destruction? And what of the rumors of strange stirrings in nearby Dragonfen? Has Belhaim’s ancient draconic nemesis returned?
"The Dragon’s Demand" is a deluxe super-adventure for 1st-level characters, and includes 64 action-packed pages of adventure and new monsters, plus a beautiful double-sided, full-color poster map of the town of Belhaim and an important miniatures-scale battleground! Players can expect to reach 7th level by the time they complete this epic adventure—if they manage to survive the wrath of a dragon when his demands aren’t met!
Written by Mike Shel.
Cover Art by Lars Grant-West.
Pathfinder Modules are 64-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set. This Pathfinder Module includes new monsters, treasure, a double-sided poster map, and a fully detailed bonus location that can be used as part of the adventure or in any other game!
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-527-3
Bring your campaign to life! The Dragon's Demand SoundPack from Syrinscape is a complete audio solution when playing The Dragon's Demand adventure.
To start, the foldout map of the town was great to have. Between the Syrinscape sound pack, the Face/Item/Quest cards for Dragon’s Demand that I could give my players, and the Hero Lab encounter library from Lone Wolf Development, I was free to focus on just learning the module, tailor it to my table, pick pawns, and decide on maps, which was fine considering how much extra time I had. I was able to learn the setting and its people, so that I did not need to reference the book very much during play. Having a town with the right amount of detail (shop names, npc names, mannerisms, etc.) it was easy to elaborate on the setting and bring it out. So, the module greatly enabled me to focus on bringing the setting to life at the table, rather than focusing on the mechanics of it all, from the resources in the module itself and the external support.
The players thoroughly enjoyed it, and the bulk of character development (personality) took place in this module. Though the PCs are advised to be from out of the town, I found it helpful to have 2/5 characters be from the rural outskirts: foresters. This made the players more motivated to protect the region. Though this module is set in Taldor, Golarion, it can easily be adapted for any medieval fantasy setting. SPOILERS!: you can see pics with description of our play-through on our group Facebook site in our Golden Watch, the Next Gen album (contains SPOILERS!): https://www.facebook.com/darkjusticeinc/
This is based on the first half. I'm not positive we'll see the rest and I really feel like writing a review.
Most of the reviews have come from GMs. Our GM seems to be enjoying running this. As a player, though, I liked the first few sessions and then ended up intensely disliking the Manor House arc. A couple of problems:
(1) This arc makes too-heavy use of "put in something the PCs can't handle and then give them the gimmick they need to handle it." I counted at least three of these in quick succession, and by the third I was sick of it. (I have been warned that this continues to the end.)
(2) The GM chose to play buying and selling strictly by the rules, meaning there was nothing useful we could buy. So the cash awards came across as a useless tease, and the well-equipped friendly NPC came across as an even worse one. I'm told that this reverses later, but short of the GM flatly telling them, the players won't know this.
Having "there's money but you can't buy anything," "there's treasure but you promised not to take it," and "there's treasure but it would offend a valuable ally if you took it" back to back in an arc where the PCs were missing very basic stuff...not that much fun. It might have been a good idea to tell the players "No resupply until much later" right away, as one would for _Serpent's Skull_ #1. I'd have made a different character if I'd known.
(3) I know it's standard for modules, but still, I hate going up a level every session, especially when the events are so crowded together. We went from 1st to 5th in 4-5 days, and the whole dynamic of interacting with the townsfolk became bizarre.
Rapid advancement with no downtime has a sort of cartoonish feel. Which could be okay, but the NPCs should be more broadly drawn, like cartoons, to support the flavor. Instead they were relatively realistically drawn, and this was jarring. (I acknowledge, though, that a lot of players like rapid advancement and for them this will not be a problem.)
So, a lot of griping. I did like the early parts quite a bit. GMs may want to carefully read through the Manor House and see if it's likely to be a bad fit for their group as it was for ours.
Writing this review while its still all fresh in my head..
Party: Occultist, Paladin, Samurai, Inquisitor of Iomedae, and Rogue.
An easy recommend. I GM'ed the module over the course of about 3 months, with fortnightly games. And I think the players really got a kick out of it as well.
The module itself is very classic high-fantasy adventure, with the backdrop of a mysterious accident to get the ball rolling, the PCs explore caves, tombs, and abandoned monasteries. And there's even a Dragon! Or is there...
The entire thing felt very cohesive plot-wise, with each dungeon feeding into the overall plot. Admittedly the players didn't quite pick up on the entire backstory, but I've found that tends to be the case with most RPGs.
NPCs were memorable and the players found themselves checking in on certain villagers every time they came back from an adventure.
The only bad thing I can say about it is that it has ruined Paladins for me. We had one in the party, and in the space of a single round (with a few buff spells) managed to land 3 critical hits against the BBEG. There wasn't a lot left of the poor BBEG after that. Not to mention he had passed all the saves and blocked every attack sent against him. And just for reference the Samurai got killed in round 2 of the same fight. That said, the final boss did get to use all their "tricks" which for me as a GM is deeply satisfying.
Like I said, its a great module, and if you feel like you can't commit to a full AP, then this adventure is a good alternative.
Picked this up my first module to run as a DM. Everything was well laid out and easy to follow. The pacing was good and even allowed for some additional encounters to be added in. The map of the town was nicely detailed. I recommend this for any group, but it is a superb intro to the pathfinder world for both DMs a players, covering a large variety of creatures, terrain, and experiences.
I really enjoyed this adventured, I GM'd for a group of 5 players, 1 brand new, and 2-3 who haven't played Pathfinder before. I highly recommend this module, the encounters were good and the plot was pretty solid. I do have some minor annoyances, but they are greatly outweighed by the quality of the adventure.
1. The maps - They were great, they were all distinct and looked great. Unfortunately most of them were hard to draw and since the GM is only one that really gets a good look at them in the book a lot is wasted. Some of them are nice and easy to draw, but some of them are just a map drawn and then a grid overlay thrown on top, it would have been nice if the artist had at least kept mostly to a standard grid line just so it's nice and easy to make. The crypt of Tula is nice with it's room types (oval and circular) but it doesn't translate too well into a drawn board. The monastary is HUGE, I had a Chessex Mondo mat (4.5'x8.5') and two mega mats (3'x4') and the Monastary took up most of that (and I had to fit some rooms on there by making up space). I really like drawing everything, so if you don't it's not a big deal. I wish they offered a printed map pack of it. The only included combat map is pretty much the most useless map in the whole adventure.
2. The story - Good story, adventurers come into town and investigate some problems, root around and find a dragon, kill dragon, save the town, become ultra wealthy. There were good NPCs there, though the guidance on much of it is pretty ambiguous, so some of the background I didn't feel I utilized well. The plot for the town was very nice, and I hope that makes it into more modules.
3. Loot - Starting at the tomb your players will get a TON of loot, and some of it's super expensive. So if you're planning on continuing the adventure after this module you need to take that into account. But the players love it.
4. Combat - There's a good mix, from the traditional dragons and kobolds, to the unusual, running through a wizards house. Good mix of everything, I enjoyed it, there were some encounters that were really easy, and some wern't. I added more to pump experience into the players because to hit the experience marks the module wants you is pretty tight with 4 players. In the end my players made it to the last fight at level 6 instead of 7, but they ran the encounter very well and wern't at risk (only one death). You have access to some DM NPCs to act as a release valve should stuff get too tough (and they are pretty darn powerful).
5. Overall - I'd highly recommend it, and wouldn't hesitate running it again, Mike Shel wrote an excellent adventure.
So, my group is was about to start a 3-PC (+1 PC run by me, the GM) romp through Hell's Rebels when one of our players announced he couldn't play for several months. Not wanting to start HR without him, I decided to pick this module up as an interim for the other 2.
Soooo... how hard will this be for 2 PCs plus an added PC played by me? Or should I just let them both play 2 PCs?
Though the PCs won’t be allowed to loot what they find in the manor, the baroness promises them a flat 5,000 gp fee for performing the service, and tells them that they’re welcome to take part in the auction to follow. If the PCs succeed at a DC 22 Diplomacy check, she even agrees to pay 1,000 gp of this fee up front.
Assuming the PCs accept, she has an assistant draft a contract outlining their fee and the expectation that they exercise every possible caution to leave items inside intact and undamaged.
Basically, they sign a contract stating they won't steal. They can be dishonest but on Page 31
Story Award:
If the PCs turn all of the valuables in this area over to the baroness for inclusion in the auction, award them 1,200 XP for their honesty. If the PCs wish to keep this treasure, they earn no bonus XP—keeping the treasure is its own reward.
Assuming I ever get to run this, I'll give the baroness a sense motive check against the party speaker bluff to see if they are truly honest. The more they keep, the higher her bonus on the check. Obviously, if they keep nothing, her sense motive check will come back "honest" regardless of whether she passes the check or not.
My group is starting the monastery, so not too much longer until the final confrontation.
Spoiler:
My question is, I have both the Paizo large green dragon and the Paizo gargantuan green dragon minis. I'm not sure which one to use. The module describes him as "huge". The gargantuan has the advantage of being very intimidating, but to me it seems like a gargantuan dragon could kill a baker's dozen 7th level adventurers, with a well placed sneeze. The large mini seems a little too underwhelming in size, but maybe that fits into his inferiority complex, that causes him to deceive others into thinking he's a great dragon. I had thought about starting the encounter with the gargantuan mini and then when/if one of the players calls him by his true name, that the illusion would drop, revealing his true size (the large mini). What do you guys think?
Huge miniature is between large and gargantuan. Maybe you should just use huge red/white dragon one or make your own huge place marker. There isn't official huge green dragon one yet.
Huge miniature is between large and gargantuan. Maybe you should just use huge red/white dragon one or make your own huge place marker. There isn't official huge green dragon one yet.
You hear that Paizo? You havn't made a huge green dragon yet. I'm not about to go slumming and use my huge green dragon D&D mini. So, I figure that gives you about 2 months tops to design, produce, and get one shipped to me. Tons of time. ;) Make it so...
Use the Gargantuan miniature because it looks cool and intimidating, but use the stat block in the book for the Huge dragon. Your players will likely not know the difference anyway.
When my players finish this module, they're gonna want to keep adventuring with these characters. I see several options for characters around 7th level. Do any of you have suggestions / recommendations on what to run next?
When my players finish this module, they're gonna want to keep adventuring with these characters. I see several options for characters around 7th level. Do any of you have suggestions / recommendations on what to run next?
Realm of the Felnight Queen is excellent, and probably easy to transition to after Dragon's Demand.
When my players finish this module, they're gonna want to keep adventuring with these characters. I see several options for characters around 7th level. Do any of you have suggestions / recommendations on what to run next?
Realm of the Felnight Queen is excellent, and probably easy to transition to after Dragon's Demand.
Excellent call! I own that module and just realized it is set in the same town. I also realized that Shadow of the Dusk Queen mashed together with Realm of the Felnight Queen equals awesome.
So, many years ago, I played this module and Azmyth and I reviewed it on Pathfinder: Chronicles Podcast.
It remains my favorite module - for any RPG system released in the 2010-2019 era.
For a number of reasons, I decided to run the Dragon's Demand for my family as an introductory adventure to gaming. My eldest sons has played PFS as well as 5E. My wife is a Wow player and has played 3.5 and SW:SAGA. My other two kids have never played.
This seemed like the PERFECT intro adventure campaign, especially for those including players who are children. I decided I would pull out all the stops and unleash the bells and whistles for this one. While I normally GM a game via D20Pro twice a week online, for this game, I decided to build a digital gaming mat for the tabletop out of a spare flat screen.
This meant, in turn, that I took a LOT more time in preparing maps and art and getting it all "just right". While I tend not to use shadowcasting online because of the processing overhead, on the tabletop via a digital map, those issues mostly go away.
So I went to town on prepping maps for shadowcasting. The results are quite impressive, though the time it takes to do it properly is significant.
Which brings me to THE MONASTERY and the reason for this post.
THE MAP SCALE IS WRONG.
In the product on the final page of the back cover, the Monastery map indicates that "each square is 5'"
NO IT ISN'T. THIS IS AN ERROR. THE CORRECT MAP SCALE FOR THE MONASTERY is 10' PER square, not 5' as printed.
I just spent nearly 4 hours building this level in d20PRo with the most complicated shadowcasting and masking map I have ever done. And let me tell you, I've done enough complex maps for D20Pro that they hired me to build their APs for them.
So when I say that I took a long time to do this, this was INCLUDING the fact that I actually what I am doing. My four hours of work? For most people, that's closer to six to eight hours of time.
Even using the scale tool, there is no way to save this work. It's time thrown away.
I am one pissed off gamer right now. I'd like to say that this oversight is a one-off. Truth is? It isn't.
There have been other errors with Jared Blando's maps and scale before (Carrion Crown AP). His artwork is invariably pixelated (because he charges by the sq. inch, so Paizo orders smaller resolution maps) and his maps for VTT use are invariably the worst that Paizo ever produces.
This particular scale error is Paizo's, not Blando's, but THE REASON it happens is because Blando's original art scale is hard to follow for even Paizo's layout staff. It's TOO DAMNED SMALL.
I LOATHE Blando's map-art because of its VTT limitations - and that fact that his respect for the grid is, seen in the most charitable view possible - intermittent. It is artistically repetitive across modules and even game systems - and it is ALWAYS technically inaccurate. ALWAYS.
I am glad Paizo no longer uses him. If I never see another map of his again in a RPG product, it will be too soon.
