A Pathfinder Compatible Adventure for 4-6 level 7 characters
The remote mining town of Imarlap relies on magic for its silver exports, but its mage is now missing. He planned to open a new route and the silver barons grow desperate to complete his work. The PCs must discover the wizard’s underground cavern and join the town to the new pass. The denizens and other underground hazards make cutting through the roots of the mountain extremely dangerous, but the town needs heroes to finish cutting Silver Pass!
Also included in ‘Cutting Silver Pass’:
Encounters while riding river rapids, both above ground and below.
Engineering projects like silver mining, lock building, and bridging waterfalls to introduce to your fantasy campaign.
A new location set in a remote mountain location. A perfect setting for any frontier town.
Negotiations with neighboring residents including a silver dragon, a werebear druid, the White Water orcs band and a family of stone giants.
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The adventure scoring the best “verified owner” ratings/reviews will be declared grand prize winner and the author hired to write a 6 part adventure path published in PDF and PRINT by Adventureaweek.com. In addition, the grand prize winner will also receive a free one year subscription to Adventureaweek.com, a limited edition village of Rybalka print autographed by AaW founders Todd Gamble and Jonathan Nelson, as well as a print copy of “BASIC1: A Learning Time” autographed by author Kevin Mickelson (Mask of Death).
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Unfortunately the adventure was not suitable for my party. They all have a good alignment and won't do a job that causes lots of innocent workers to die. There were also other elements (the deathcause of the wizard, the ruthlessness of the barons) that wouldn't fit my party. Especially with one member with a trauma caused by the high-and-mighty.
Somewhere along the adventure they would probably revolt and turn upon their clients.
Rather a dissapointment during my preparations that it was not fit for me and I had find another more fitting adventure.
I was one of the judges of the contest that determined which pitches were chosen for the Pathmaster contest. I did not receive any compensation and thus do not consider my verdict compromised. The very presence of these modules means that I like the premise of all Pathmaster-modules, but can their execution stand up?
This module is 37 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 3 pages of advertisement, 1 page back cover and 1 page SRD, leaving us with 29 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This being an adventure-module, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
All right, still here? The town of Imarlap is blessed by abundant silver, but also is quite far off the trodden paths, requiring expensive magic to properly get the goods to civilization. All that changed when the local dwarven wizard miscast a spell and stumbled across a huge cavern complex - a plan thus formed to cut a pass through the mountains and deliver the silver via these caverns and the rivers coursing through them. Unfortunately, the wizard was secretive and neither he, nor his apprentice have been seen for more than a month - enter the PCs!
Hired by the town's silver barons, the PCs will first have to find the missing wizard's hidden tower - by piecing together evidence from survivors of a mining accident - all of which could be more cooperative. Navigating the mining tunnels, the PCs find the tower and means of access and have to acknowledge that the dwarf's paranoia was well-founded: Assassinated by his apprentice, he now is a specter and one first obstacle on the PC's way. And with his plans, the true meat of the adventure begins: Developing Silver Pass. Yes, you heard me right -via crews and engineering, the PCs will have the task of developing a pass - with all the consequences that entails:
From realizing how and what areas to develop to exterminating puddings and similar dangerous vermin to dealing with raiding xorns, trolls and negotiating with the were-bear cave druid (who unfortunately stands in the way of progress - a nice moral dilemma) to the Stoneraven Giant Tribe, which may be more than the PCs can handle via brute force. Speaking of brute force: A local Silver Dragon, Scrilmeiis, may also challenge PCs for honorable fights and, when treated fairly, might make for a great champion for the exploited miners and political counter-weight to the silver barons - if the PCs can win him over via chivalrous conduct and smart thinking. As a final challenge, the PCs can deal with the Whitewater Orc Tribe - probably by navigating canoes down the rapids and fighting off the green-skins in a truly cool and iconic mini-game style encounter that actually comes with a table that makes running it rather easy..
We also get all the maps in player-friendly versions.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful, original 2-column standard and is one of my favorites among the unique styles used for Pathmaster-modules. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and the cartography is neat, as we've come to expect from AaW.
All right, let's get one thing out of the way right now - Scott Janke has created a UNIQUE module here - there are not that many "Developing" modules available - beyond Kingmaker and "Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale" and some of AaW's offerings (Like "Forest for the Trees"), there simply aren't enough modules out there that breathe the spirit of conquering/exploring/developing the wilderness and this is one: Suffused by the spirit of frontiersmen, of can-do, of bringing civilization, this sandbox offers ways for PCs to actually influence a settlement, of doing something significant and while it works well in its context, it left me hungering for more - I'd be all game for a Fitzcarraldo-style AP or any further expansions and similar modules - this offering feels that fresh, that new, that uncommon - marrying details and believable, at times tragic characters with the unconventional premise, we have a great module on our hands - final verdict? 5 stars +seal of approval!
