Pathfinder Society Scenario #5–22: Scars of the Third Crusade (PFRPG) PDF

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.

The fiery inquisitions that raged through Mendev during the Third Mendevian Crusade may have been damped but never truly extinguished. Fanatics have reignited the witch-hunts in eastern Mendev, and in doing so they have captured and accused allies of the Pathfinder Society. Unless the PCs intercede and put a stop to this mob justice, their allies' deaths will spark a new wave of internecine executions throughout the crusader nation.

Content in “Scars of the Third Crusade” also contributes directly to the ongoing storyline of the Silver Crusade faction.

Written by Jason Brick.

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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PZOPSS0522E


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Entertaining, with an odd investigation mechanic

4/5

As people have said before me, this is a pretty talk heavy, and fight light module. It may seem like a module that would be dreadfully boring to play a barbarian - I made one attack (which missed) and a disarm attempt, and I only ever raged so that I could take a bigger swing at the test of strength game - but I actually enjoyed the game. If you are willing to role-play, even when you're not the one with +27 diplomacy, then it can be pretty entertaining. If you have one big ham at the table, the GM will probably need to keep an eye on things and make sure other characters get a chance to do stuff.

The thing that felt a bit odd is there is a mechanic where you get randomized rumors/clues. It's kind of realistic because NPC B doesn't know that the NPC A just told you the same thing on the other side of town, but by random chance we got one clue a LOT of times, and it felt like we were missing out on the opportunity to learn other useful information. It turned out we were doing a good job of investigation, and wrapped up the mod successfully in under four hours, but it felt like we were spinning our wheels sometimes.


A refreshing change of pace

5/5

I played this module tonight, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I went in playing a gunslinger and thought I would be standing around doing nothing the entire time as is the case for a martial class in a diplomacy module, but this module allowed everyone to participat and everyone had a great time. As long as you have a gm who is able to roleplay and has prepared, I think you will enjoy it as well. As others have pointed out, this module has some flaws as written, but it is difficult fleshing out a whole module in a few pages and I think this was well done.


Tracing the scent.

4/5

Player's perspective, tier 1-2. I was actually a little apprehensive to play this scenario because I don't usually like this kind of adventure, but good execution really does it... justice.

This scenario comfortably forces your characters to determine the truth of a crime that may or may not be legitimate.

Add some interesting characters to the mix - that you can visit throughout the scenario - and some interesting exploring mechanic, and this plays out in a way that can have you feeling like you're doing well for the first half of the game, and in the pits in the second half. You must stay on the ball.

I was really quite impressed with some of the answers our GM gave to our curveball questions, which I'm sure couldn't have all been in the book. I was none the wiser, and I can't say I'm not slightly worried about where to find those fairly necessary answers to potential questions.

On GMing this:
Keeping track of everything is really tough. The Opposition and Town Sentiment tracks, which rumours you've already used (and what to do if you reroll the same number on a d8), the maximum amount of both types of rumours you're allowed to get in an area - it's too much. I understand it's needed to keep balance, but the book should've accounted for this better. Even worse if you're trying to run this cold. This mistake has happened before, with Library of the Lion.


Non-Standard but Fun

5/5

This is definitely a non-standard scenario, the scenario runs on a time table and time is abstracted into a morning, afternoon, and evening action.

You need a GM who is on the ball, I don't understand how anyone runs scenarios cold, but this is definitely one to prepare carefully. Very role-play heavy and sandbox style.

Spoiler:
The investigation includes some great characters like a LG villain (deluded not evil). The investigation runs well, but is very Diplomacy skill heavy.

My second favorite scenario I've played so far.


Another great roleplay sandbox / investigation experience

5/5

Scars is another roleplay sandbox/ investigation experience reminiscent of Murder on the Throaty Mermaid.

This scenario will literally live or die with your GM. GMs, do everyone a favor, if you don't enjoy or can't adapt to running roleplay sandbox scenarios, stay away from them!

And of course, the players need to like it as well. It's possible that you might get only 1 combat in 5 hours, but that's really your choice on how you handle the various encounters.

My GM said running this was complex, but he had only read through the scenario once. In addition, he said we went off the rails a bit.

Detailed Rating:

Length: Medium. I believe we finished in 4 hours, nothing was skipped or rushed.
Experience: 6 veteran players at subtier 1-2.
Sweet Spot: TBD.
Entertainment: Highly entertaining with a few great characters and funny moments. (10/10)
Story: Story was simple but yet had lots of twists to keep us guessing. (9/10)
Roleplay: Almost all roleplay. (10/10)
Combat/Challenges: It's hard to judge the scenario based on one combat, but we were mostly level 1 and I felt the end encounter was the perfect challenge level. The scenario made use of one of the most hated mechanics in Pathfinder, I'm not sure why. (9/10)
Maps: Unsure, we only really used the town map and everything else was hand drawn. (7/10)
Boons: Sweet (if you are Silver Crusade), average otherwise. (8/10)
Uniqueness: Not unique but I love scenarios like this and it fit perfectly with the setting. (8/10)
Faction Missions: This scenario was made for Silver Crusade and I believe if we had a Silver Crusade at the table, it would have enhanced the experience. (10/10)

I would highly recommend this if you like roleplay and investigation and have a GM that can pull it off.


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Webstore Gninja Minion

Announced for June!

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

You dropped an apostrophe in the blurb. The deaths are those of the allies, so allies is a possessive and should be allies'.

Webstore Gninja Minion

Thanks for the catch! It's been updated.


Any update on when this will publish?

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

It usually hits at 8:00 Pacific time.

Paizo Glitterati Robot

Now available!

Grand Lodge Global Organized Play Coordinator

Please do not run this until July 4.

Grand Lodge

Mike... I did not know it was being held until July 4th. I scheduled this 2 weeks ago and now I am supposed to run this on Sunday and now I am not going to be able to. It is not showing up on the purchase list. I wish you had mentioned this earlier. :(

So now I have people signed up and I am going to have to tell them I can't. (running both 5-22 and 5-23). :(

Grand Lodge Global Organized Play Coordinator

Deanoth wrote:

Mike... I did not know it was being held until July 4th. I scheduled this 2 weeks ago and now I am supposed to run this on Sunday and now I am not going to be able to. It is not showing up on the purchase list. I wish you had mentioned this earlier. :(

So now I have people signed up and I am going to have to tell them I can't. (running both 5-22 and 5-23). :(

The last four scenarios of the season have been held for PaizoCon for the past several years and it was no different this year. I apologize if there was any miscommunication on our end.


Paizo posted the availability and some of us scheduled events based on your statements. Now, like Deanoth, I have to spend time to change the event posting.
Thanks for wasting my time.

Shadow Lodge

Hey, mistakes happen, and its just a game. :) At least now you have plenty of time to prep. From what I see, DMs are really going to need it, and I feel sorry for players whose DMs even attempt to run these cold. Especially Assault.

Plus, what would you have done if these hadn't been made available at all yet?


DM Beckett,
Mistakes happen, but rather than Paizo living with the consequences of their mistake, they decided to inconvenience their customers. "its just a game. :)" Pathfinder is just a game, but we're talking about my time that Paizo elected to make me spend, rather than their having a slightly less special convention. If it's so humorous to you, perhaps you'd like to reimburse me for my time?

Your comments show that you do not understand the situation.

"At least now you have plenty of time to prep"? Instead of being able to buy it now, and prep for next Saturday, I have to hope it's available Saturday morning, and rush my preparation for Saturday afternoon. I have _less_ time to prep.

As for what I'd have done if it hadn't been available at all, that's simple. If Paizo didn't state that the scenario would be available on 27 June, I wouldn't have scheduled it on 5 July.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
Scott Romanowski wrote:
If it's so humorous to you, perhaps you'd like to reimburse me for my time?

How much do you feel would compensate for your lost time?


When consulting with a client who arbitrarily changes a time on me, indicating that they think my time is a resource they can abuse, I charge a minimum of 8 hours. I don't think you're serious though and I don't discuss my rates in public.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

It would clearly be more than the store credit I have saved then.


I have a question about some of the mechanics in the scenario:

Spoiler:

For the 'Town Sentiment Track' table, the column for 16 doesn't give an encounter number, but I assume it should be number 5.

In addition, the final row for that table is only labeled '5.' Perhaps that row is a typo, and the '5' is supposed to continue from the last row (i.e. run encounter 5)? The remaining text would be describing the encounter if it is not occurring after encounter 4, then??


Spoiler:

I also noticed that the "Other investigations" section on page 11 mentions making use of a 'Carousing' list for off-script investigations, though I couldn't find such a list in the pdf. I assume something was changed to 'Word on the street' at some point, but it could confuse some GMs.


Sorry to keep posting, but I'm prepping this for PaizoCon and want to be sure that I'm ready for a smooth run (never GMed a con before). I noticed a few more inconsistencies:

Spoiler:

* Visiting the prisoners is noted as increasing the opposition track by +2 in the table on page 7, but only +1 in the development notes on page 9. Which is correct?

* There's a duplicate paragraph on page 14 on the topic of PCs ignoring the letter in encounter 4.

Paizo Employee Developer

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Paulicus wrote:

I have a question about some of the mechanics in the scenario:

** spoiler omitted **

In response:
It appears the 5 in "Encounter 5" got bumped down a line. Those last two sections ("Sheriff Tobias and Ekira…encounter as descried") are part of the same condition.

Carousing changed into just Beer Garden during development, as carousing wasn't technically a location name. Any mention of carousing as a location is an artifact of that change.

Looking at an earlier version of the scenario, the prisoner visit was only worth one point on the Opposition track. Go with that.


Thanks for the response John! I'm looking forward to running this one.

I'm quite glad you guys put in a beer garden.


Drogon wrote:
It usually hits at 8:00 Pacific time.

Keen to run this on the weekend, but due to the time difference between Australia and the US it might be a bit tight, depending WHEN on Friday it's released.

The above quote from Drogon, does anyone know if this is PM or AM?


I hope I do this right as this is the first time ever posting a Spoiler type item. I have a question regarding the investigation.

Movie plot spoiler:
It mentions that a group can only find "one rumor at a location for each actively investigating PC each phase", but later mentions that for "every two PCs that investigate a particular location in one phase, reduce their final number of successes by 1 for that phase". My main question is how to handle it if a single person gets enough successes to get more than one rumor? This is especially challenging for when they get one or more true rumors AND one or more false rumors. Examples include: Single PC gets 1 or more sucesses. Two PCs get 1 success (does it drop to 0?). Two PCs get 4 successes at the General Store. Four PCs get 4 successes at the General Store.

I tried to use the best examples, but hopefully you get the idea.

Shadow Lodge

Spoiler:
"This information is presented as true rumors and false rumors that the PCs learn as part of their investigations, and many of the locations around the town might provide the PCs one or more of each type of rumor depending on the outcome of skill checks."
-
Each location has a certain number of possible rumors that can be learned. For Example, Otto's Farm ha one true and one false rumor only. When you make the skill checks, you either get successes or not. If you roll high, (beat by 5 or more), you get additional successes. Again, using Otto's Farm, (1-2 subtier), it's a DC 12 Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate check. If you get a 17, it's 2 successes. If you get a 22 it's 3 successes. However, if you had 2 players there in the same phase, it would be a -1 Success. So lets say you had 2 players go. One rolls a 17, the other a 19. That's a total of 4 successes right now, but because there are 2 players, they take a -1 to successes earned. Each player can only learn 1 Rumor, but the number of successes does not grant extra rumors, it indicates that the rumor they do get includes better information. In this case they would get 1 true rumor. If they had only gotten 2 successes, they would instead have gotten one true rumor and one false rumor, (see sidebar n page 10). In the case you mentioned, where they total out at 0 successes, that indicates (for Otto's Farm) that they receive 1 false rumor (page 10). Does that help? The way I'm understanding it, all the successes are totaled first for everyone present, then subtract the penalty for multiple players at the same place in the same phase. Once the final total is there, it dictates how many rumors can possibly be learned, (by the entire present party), but is limited by how many the location actually offers as well as limited to how many players are involved. So if you get 2 true and 2 false rumors as the result, but only have 3 players involved, they can only get 3 out of those 4. Once all the false rumors are given, every time they should get a false rumor, they are supposed to get an additional bit of info on that rumor that is supposed to cast it into doubt or prove it false, so I would probably hand out the false rumors first.

Grand Lodge

Merch wrote:
Drogon wrote:
It usually hits at 8:00 Pacific time.

Keen to run this on the weekend, but due to the time difference between Australia and the US it might be a bit tight, depending WHEN on Friday it's released.

The above quote from Drogon, does anyone know if this is PM or AM?

8PM Pacific time Friday makes 7am EST Saturday in the East of Australia (11 hours forward),

I imagine when I go back home, I will have to will have to wait til Saturday for my new scenarios.

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