A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.
The Mendevian Crusade draws heavily on the Pathfinder Society’s resources, and unless the Decemvirate can secure the assistance of generous patrons, the society may not have sufficient capital both to fight off the demonic invasion and to prepare its expedition to a lost historical site within the Worldwound. Upon hearing that the daughter of an eminent and wealthy of citizen of Sauerton has gone missing, the Pathfinders rush to her aid in the hope of earning her father’s goodwill and support in upcoming endeavors.
Written by David N. Ross.
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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For reference this is the first scenario I have felt the urge to review having played and/or GMed 50-75 total and my experience comes from both playing and running this scenario for Pathfinder Society. I feel that roleplay centric scenarios are either going to be loved or hated and, unfortunately, this one just didn't do it for me. It asks characters to make moral decisions and so plays with the player-character boundaries in a way that doesn't appeal to me. Detailed rating (with spoilers) follows.
Spoiler:
Length: Medium to long. We finished in 4 hours both times, there is no optional encounter. Length will depend upon length of roleplay and investigation elements.
Experience: Played/GMed high tier with 6 at least moderately optimized characters (as is normal for our area). The combats were fairly uninteresting but seem appropriate for parties at the intended power level. From a GM side it includes a magus and an alchemist in tight quarters so you have to make sure to do your prep in advance if you dont know all the intricacies of each class.
Story: This is a story driven module. The developers can't begin to answer every question that might come up in a mystery style adventure but there was a lot that the GM will be asked to fill in. When I ran the scenario once Demrick said his piece about Tercio winning the recent election the table sad straightaway that they knew he was the culprit but now just had to prove it.
Roleplay: There were potentially strong roleplay elements if your characters want them. Both times I went through this, though, none of the back and forth dealing in either the magus or alchemist encounter had changed anyone's mind. People came in with their preconceived notions of what their character's would do and did not deviate. Ex: "Well, I'm Silver Crusade so we'll never take your offer no matter what you say, ever."
Combat/Challenges: Few encounters are able to appropriately challenge characters in our play area who seem to operate at a higher than average optimization level. The final confrontation combines a fairly weak build alchemist and a situation unfavorable to her. One encounter (some advanced wolves) actually fits the story (the town is being overwhelmed due to lack of guards) but left some players feeling like it was a wasted encounter.
Maps: Two cramped combats. Nothing exciting, but it was a welcome respite from over grand maps.
Boons: Peoples faces when the get the "you will be remembered in the future" boons say it all, and I believe that is the second of two for Taldor like that.
Uniqueness: It was different to have a scenario that revolved around a moral dilemma decision. What I and some others mentioned disliking was feeling like you are "fighting" your group to make the main decision in the scenario. It is likely that at least one person will walk away feeling sidelined for being outvoted. I would have *loved* to have seen the decision be played out individually with, maybe, each PC getting to make their decision by being a witness at trial or something.
Faction Missions: This scenario would be much more interesting to play with characters pursuing both faction missions as, while they do not outright conflict, they can add some extra tension. Having only one mission present will likely change the course of the table.
Followup: The wrap up denouement could have been explored more, although time was obviously limiting (have the players present evidence at trial, other scenarios do this but it feels fitting). The decisions you make largely affect your prestige and get reported to affect the flow of the campaign later. I guess my feelings on this scenario will largely depend on how this is followed up on. For a scenario to revolve around a "hard" decision that decision has to actually generate some sort of conflict in each character and for us it just didn't.
Personally I love to roleplay and was definitely looking forward to gm’ing this scenario after hearing and reading about it. Now after gm’ing this scenario, I absolutely pray I will never have to gm it ever again.
If you have characters that have good face skills, this scenario should run smoothly; if you do not, expect difficulties. If you are gm’ing this scenario, do expect to do heavy improve with wide open holes in the story to keep the story going smoothly. The reason I am ranking this as a two-star scenario is because the information provided felt extremely scattered, the few fights were anything but epic and were poorly written, and the characters in scenario we are to rp as gm’s felt extremely one dimensional. Overall I hope I never have to gm this scenario ever again. It was just that unenjoyable. It just didn't feel like it was up to the standards of the other scenarios out there and was extremely tedious to gm.
The only redeeming part of the whole scenario is the over-arching story was descent.
We're supposed to be heroes, Do not play a Paladin.
In this scenario I felt that being a good character at the end
was a bad thing. If you are not super smart or super paranoid,
you get this godawful ending with the evil people laughing
and you're not able to do a thing.
*Spoilers*
I want to keep on with the adventure and rescue her. I actually
think that it is a good story up until the end where if you
give her away, you can never try and rescue her again.
She's gone. This is a good story because it made me feel emotion
unfortunately that emotion was anger at the inability to do
anything about it.
Prepare some face cards, gather your diplomancers, and prepare for one of the richest roleplay experiences since The Blakros Matrimony! I've ran this twice at the time of this writing, and I must say that I am impressed. Having the opportunity to get into the character of so many NPCs, it's certainly a challenge that I would not casually heap upon a novice GM.
BE WARNED: THIS SCENARIO TAKES SIGNIFICANT PREP TIME! I had a printout of the scenario, and a highlighter, and several hours to read, internalize, and think about all the possible things my characters would say. Do this, and the scenario will provide the maximum amount of enjoyment for your players.
I played this scenario over the weekend and was really impressed. I was playing a character that had no real reason to care about the storyline beyond the main Pathfinder mission, but by the end my character was very invested in it. That's really hard to pull off in this kind of medium, but it's not suprising from the likes of David Ross.
I was wondering are there going to be scenarios that take place in the world wound as season 5 is the Year of the Demon. So far only a small piece of one scenario takes place in the world wound. I want to go into the world wound and purify it, close it Kill the demons.
If you want to close the Worldwound, play the Wrath of the Righteous AP. The Society is trying to get into a Sky Citadel in the Worldwound and back out before Mendevian Crusaders close it.
On the chronicle it specifically states that the faction boon is Taldor. What is the "Andoran" boon? Is that for everyone if they succeed, or just for Andoran/Liberty's Edge?
(based on 33 ratings)
