Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–12: Scions of the Sky Key, Part 1: On Sharrowsmith's Trail (PFRPG) PDF

I'm glad we had an experienced GM who rolled with the multiple plot holes we experienced; we still managed to have a good time due to his heroic efforts. Unfortunately, he was forced to cover numerous oversights, both in the plot and in the mechanics.

My biggest gripe is that the entire scenario is predicated on Sharrowsmith having caused a tribe of kobolds to attack the fort-town, but there is absolutely no evidence that he did any such thing. The PCs are immediately put on "trial" but the premise is ridiculous, as we get zero evidence to incriminate Sharrowsmith and the Pathfinder Society as a whole, either before or after the results of the "trial". In fact, we nearly used a simple Charm Person on the "judge" instead of having to put up with the sham; since the PCs don't get any information unless they win this social encounter, why didn't the author think to account for a basic 1st level spell?

Its clear that the entire plot was rather poorly thought out. Among other plot complaints:
- The guards at the front of the fort demand to know our business, but we acted on several clues that Pathfinders weren't particularly welcome, so we lied instead of telling the truth, which the scenario decided was the wrong course of action, resulting in higher DCs. Why make so many hints if it was deliberate misleading?
- The opponent in the trial stated that if we simply killed the kobolds, it would create a power vacuum and make everything worse. So we saunter into the final lair hoping to make a deal with them, and instead its a fight to the death. Again, what was the point of that deliberate clue?
- We asked who was in charge of the mining outpost so we could make a contact once we arrived, but there is no name. Seems like an obvious question, particularly since we made it a point to comply with local authority to redeem the Pathfinder name.
- None of the encounters were relevant to each other. I kept trying to make connections, but it was simply a case of the entire scenario wanting to be an exhibition of various random monster encounters.
- Obviously once we knew about the kidnapping, we made as much haste as we could, but if the prestige for the scenario relies on us getting to the end as fast as possible, why isn't there a push to prevent us from delaying in the fort-town?
- If none of the miners at the outpost have seen Sharrowsmith, how do the kobolds have his bag and journal?

Mechanically, as stated in other reviews, the fights were too easy (we played low tier). Also as mentioned, the positioning of enemies in the final fight is ambiguous. There is one section that isn't tier-adjusted and needs to be. There is a potential to take between 1-6 d6 of damage for a failed climb check. Six D6: that's instant death for 1st level characters. What were the developers thinking? Why was the number of d6 random?

I don't even have a problem with the fact that we didn't find Sharrowsmith. We followed the best clues we could to stay on his trail and still managed to accomplish something heroic. But each step of the way was a ham-fisted perversion of logic that left me feeling like all the NPCs were taking crazy pills. Perhaps its just the jungle, but I suspect its bad writing.

The three Scions of the Sky Key scenarios went over really well when I ran them. This one is good, one of the players was saying it was one of the best she had played, but the following two are even better. Personally, I didn't like how reliant the entire scenario was on the interview with Praetor Sylien, but it didn't seem to be a problem for the players. As for Boons, there are a couple of interesting ones for the exchange faction, but that's it.

One of the worst I ever played.

Combats 1/10, all fullish monsters that can't survive more than one turn... the BBEG have its strengh, but a grapple even for whom doesn't focus on grapple can end it quickly, meh.

Story 1/10, delve into a jungle to find a venture captian, go on trip then kill all guys, finding nothing, and don't know what we have done, none of story at all.

Why I don't give 1 star is that I haven't played part 2 and 3, maybe I would raise the rating later.

I recently ran this for a group of 4 players (LVL 1, lower tier), and found it easy to run. It was only my second time running a PFS scenario, and I had no issues or troubles as a gm. Having the creatures in the back of the scenario is a nice touch. The players seemed to be engaged by the plot and setting, and I heard no complaints.

I knocked one star off the rating for a couple reasons:

1) There were some typos here and there, and one of the monsters was missing from the back pages, but the experience wasn't really harmed by that too much.

2) For my own taste (even though I was gm'ing, not playing), the encounters were a little too easy.