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

3.20/5 (based on 34 ratings)
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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3.20/5 (based on 34 ratings)

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atrocious

1/5 —

Worst pfs scenario to date. Only scenario that I will flat out refuse to GM again. Utterly pointless, does nothing to further the overall season plot, poorly written, clunky mechanics. Most of the questions the players want answers to are not addressed anywhere. Seriously, this is a murder mystery and the victims don't even have names.
It begins seeming like it will be an interesting conspiracy covering up some ancient ruins. Ends with you realizing it was all pointless, the ruin had nothing to do with it, the villains motive was because they felt like it, and nothing you did mattered.

Complicated? Yes. Fun? Double yes.

4/5 —

I've run Scars of the Third Crusade several times at this point, and it's honestly one of my favorite scenarios to date. In general, I enjoy roleplay-heavy scenarios, and this one certainly fits the bill! Players can really make their characters shine in the way that they approach the investigation, though it can definitely take some prompting! While not every table I've run has participated in more than one combat, they have all left smiling and feeling like they've had fun (at least, from what they told me!).

However, it is a pain to prepare (at least the first time). Luckily, the PFS shared prep site has some nice worksheets to use for all the tracking going on. While obviously the scenario should stand on its own, this is something you should look into if you go to run it.

In addition, it's very difficult for a table to have complete success. There's not much the PCs can do about it, unless they're extremely careful. While this is understandable, it just feels like it's too easy for them to be significantly punished for bad luck and their approach to the solution. In addition, the way that the track advances means that players may want to skip forward to encounters, which makes it a delicate work-around between following the scenario and throwing up a Plot Barrier. Specifically, when my players

Spoiler:
wanted to go out of their way to meet Erika before Encounter One was triggered, I had to make it so they had to find her first. In this case, I used the Word on the Street encounter in order to illustrate the process of asking around about her.

Enjoy getting off the train.

4/5 —

Needs a gm that is comfortable adapting NPCs and situations to get the point across and account for player actions. I've run it twice, and I'm confident the second time was better than the first, and the third will be better still. Takes a lot of prep, and very sandboxy. I had fun with it.

So good, yet so mechanically flawed

4/5 —

I really want to give this a 5. I've played and ran it, and both times have been a blast. Unfortunately, the investigative mechanic is really flawed. If you are willing to massage the tracks a bit to make the storyline make sense, then it can be a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, it also has some problems with writing. There's no mention of who was murdered, which is sort of central to a murder mystery. I'd recommend that GMs read through it and try to plug as many plot holes as possible before getting to the table.

2 Stars or 4?!

3/5 —

Ok, so this module is different than many others. The blurb did represent it well, but maybe making it clear this was more of a mystery/talky talky module would help.

The mission was concise, the opponent was murky, and the motivation a bit hazy. Some groups may solve/win this module without actually knowing what the heck was going on, and why.

We've all seen the Bard, or other character who has to spend the entire module playing their tune while the fighters get all of the glory. This module is just the reverse.

It is very sandbox, and mostly a murder mystery, so it is a chance for underappreciated characters to truly shine. Bring your Investigators and Inquisitors for this module, but bee prepared to fight, this isn't all just social encounters,

I recommend this for a group with some chatters and some fighter. Your enjoyment of this module will depend on which of the two you are though. For you fighters out there, suck it up and let the talker have the glory, just this once,

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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
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

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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