Pathfinder Society Scenario #5–25: Vengeance at Sundered Crag (PFRPG) PDF

I absolutely loved the flavor and story of this scenario, but I have issues with it...
1) Why is it in season 5 that we manage to face Tancred? For people with characters that know anything about him, they are most certainly dead/retired/out of tier by this point. He has been around for multiple seasons. I think it would have been more satisfying if the idea of capturing Tancred in an earlier season happened. So a group of Pathfinders are just told to go bring back a traitor (alive).

2) Did anyone play-test this before publishing it? I don't think it was, and if this is ran at a convention players will most likely not finish due to time constraints. I played with a group of people last night, we started right on time and did everything we could only to end up running out of time. That pisses me off. If I am going to fail a scenario I want it to be from actions, not time constraints because people didn't consider the fact that a single combat with TWELVE NPC's might eat up more time than it should. I'm also a little amused by the number of unfettered eidolons that are found in the World Wound. Lots of summoners seem to die here.

3) Even after looking at the scenario once play time was over, the story and details of Tancred and Thurl is explained.. but only in a very technical way. There is nothing that gives the players any info as to why all of this is happening. It just seemed as if there wasn't really a good reason they put to paper, or simply chose not to. Mechanics made my entire table forget about story, and the flavor quickly left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Our general concensus was this: We wish we had never played this scenario. Last night, I wish I didn't record my pathfinder number at the end. But I did. Season 5 has been a great season until I played this.

I would actually give this 0 stars if I could. Having played many of the scenarios that lead up to this one and give background for it, I was really looking forward to finally dealing with some thorns in our sides, especially Tancred Desmire.

This scenario is inexplicably long. Our group last night was fairly well balanced, lacking only a true rogue to deal with traps (which was not an issue), and a high level arcane blaster. We didn't even finish half the scenario in the about 4 1/2 hours we had. Our first combat went smoothly and quickly, but the second encounter included almost a dozen NPCs for the GM to have to deal with, all of which were made of HP, so without massive amounts of damage, it took us 3 1/2 hours to finally get through. It was just frustrating and lead to a sense of hopelessness in actually finishing the scenario. From what we heard, the last combat had the potential to be just as bad and run just as long, as the final boss was a conjurer.

I'm not sure if this scenario was ever play-tested for time, but it seems that without a high damage skewed party that there is no chance of finishing this scenario in convention time limits, which is what our store has had to default with all of the 7-11 scenarios in this season. I'm not even sure what we could have done to speed things up, short of have a GM who knew every action for a dozen NPCs on their turn, anticipated 5 actions prior, and taking into consideration everything the PCs could have done to them.

In all, I may have had a better rating of this scenario would I have had to time to really enjoy it and get through it. As it stood, we rushed through all of the fluff (i.e. RP, puzzles, plot) just to get to the necessary combats.

This scenario would have been ok, if slightly on the long side, for a normal 7-11. It simply lacks that epic feeling that S4 ended on. I'm not saying every season ender needs to have the fate of Golarion on the line, but it should feel epic. I realize that with the development of a new seeker arc in the line we are probably looking at more "epic" there, but I was certainly let down by the scenario.

Also, our GM spiced things up according to the tactics as written, and I'm glad he did, because if not we would have been sorely disappointed in the final encounter.

I can understand this given the reviews of other "killer" 7-11s, but this I'd much rather have a few good challenging combat encounters in a 7-11 than scenarios that just give multiple weak encounters. Personally I don't mind the killer ones at this tier.

This scenario is going to get more appreciation out of those who have played many other scenarios over Season 5, and some before. I recommend it for that, but was not a fan of how it all came together. And perhaps it was too much to ask of any author. Our table certainly had fun, but I found myself distracted in-game by how some circumstances seemed forced and unlikely. A fitting end for Season 5 for a veteran PFS player, but not the best choice for a 7–11 for everyone else.