Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–98: Serpents Rise (PFRPG) PDF

4.50/5 (based on 15 ratings)

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th-level pregenerated characters.

Years of political maneuvering, espionage, smuggling, and diplomacy have set the stage for the Aspis Consortium's most ambitious attack on their Inner Sea rivals: the Pathfinder Society. All that remains are several key preparations that only an elite team of Aspis agents can arrange, and once the fireworks begin, these same agents must strike quickly and mercilessly to secure objectives—some shared and some connected to deeper plots—and escape without the Society being any the wiser.

In this adventure the players portray agents of the Aspis Consortium using 7th-level pregenerated characters. The events in this story also connect to and expand upon those in Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-97: Siege of Serpents.

Written by John Compton.

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4.50/5 (based on 15 ratings)

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What it feels like for a Serpent

5/5

This was an absolute blast to play. The premise is great: you may have just played/GMed Siege of Serpents and now you get to ensure in the villain flashback that that's what happened. It's not your fault the rest of the Consortium couldn't finish the job properly.

Clearly, this scenario should be played after Siege of Serpents. Also, what another reviewer said, you really need The Leader (wizard) as one of the pregens chosen. That said, from across the table it looked like a really solid pregen. The divine caster is also good to have. I think the martial pregens are slightly more interchangeable; they're all fine but none of them indispensable.

The rest of the pregens are also well done. Each of them is competent at his/her job. Nobody feels like the Lump that is blocking the rest of the team from a successful stealth mission. Conversely, no single pregen can do everything, so everyone gets some spotlight time. While some of the pregens are evil, not all of them, and there are no strong incentives to sabotage the rest of the team. All the hate and bitterness is focused outwards. I think that's a good design to pull off an "evil" adventure without hurt feelings.

The PCs are all effective at their job, but also relatively balanced with each other. Good use of pregens, that. There's also been some thought put into the question of how to keep the adventure moving if a PC dies, which is entirely possible. The Pathfinder opposition may be NPCs, but some of them are quite dangerous.

It should also be kept in mind that while decently-built, these pregens are far from the optimized-to-the-gills PCs we normally see running around. I think they're slightly behind the ACG pregens but ahead of the CRB pregens. And with a much more coordinated set of abilities as a team. I think that again is a decent design choice: it limits the amount of information to digest before you start playing, but leaves you with someone you can still take seriously.

The boss fight in particular was impressive: this is what it feels like to be on the receiving end of an arrogant controlling caster with a suite of spells and tactics to really make you miserable. Just like our PCs do to the Aspis every other time. It's a welcome change from all the sad mad cultists just waiting in a dank basement for the pathfinders to come and kill them; this one intends to make a stand and win.


Wow!

4/5

I thought nothing could top Traitor's Lodge as my favorite scenario to run. Serpent's Rise is proof that I was wrong.

My only quibble (and it's a minor one) is the four-player adjustment — I think it tones the final encounter down too much. But aside from that, this one is first-rate.


The best.

5/5

Do everything in your power to get to play this. It is that amazing. Truly a magnificent piece worth grinding that 5th star with.


Stunning, best written PFS scenario I have seen.

5/5

Plenty of options for the creative player. Every pregen has a backstory woven into the plot. End boss is amazing. Could not ask for more.


Exclusively awesome

5/5

This scenario was fantastic in every sense. The roleplaying was vibrant and dynamic (mostly because of the table I was playing at, but still). There were a number of open-ended situations that called for ingenuity on the players' parts, but could also be solved straightforwardly. The combats were diverse and exciting, offering some nice atmospherics and mechanical crispness. And finally, the pregens were absolutely fantastic. I played 322 and used all of her resources perfectly. I can't wait to run this.


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Webstore Gninja Minion

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Announced!

Shadow Lodge

Pure awesome! :)

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

This is my dream scenario! I can't wait to play it :-D


Wicked.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Will there be 6 (or more) pregens to go with this adventure? I am assuming yes as the current PFS table size assumption is 6 players.

Paizo Employee Developer

1970Zombie wrote:
Will there be 6 (or more) pregens to go with this adventure? I am assuming yes as the current PFS table size assumption is 6 players.

The plan is to have six pregenerated Aspis agent PCs for this adventure.

Scarab Sages

11 days until Paizocon, any idea on when the GMs who have this in their downloads will be able to access it and the other specials so we have ample time to prepare/purchase supplies for it?

Paizo Employee Developer

skyshark wrote:
11 days until Paizocon, any idea on when the GMs who have this in their downloads will be able to access it and the other specials so we have ample time to prepare/purchase supplies for it?

As has been the case in past years, the adventures go live for convention GMs on the Friday before the convention (May 15th this year). There are a few that might be ready earlier than that on a case-by-case basis.

For this adventure, you'll want the following map products:

Spoiler:
Map Pack: Fortress (out of print, yes, but it ended up being a good fit)
Map Pack: Temple

Scarab Sages

John Compton wrote:
skyshark wrote:
11 days until Paizocon, any idea on when the GMs who have this in their downloads will be able to access it and the other specials so we have ample time to prepare/purchase supplies for it?

As has been the case in past years, the adventures go live for convention GMs on the Friday before the convention (May 15th this year). There are a few that might be ready earlier than that on a case-by-case basis.

For this adventure, you'll want the following map products:

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks John! Any chance of getting the list of maps needed for the other specials too?

Paizo Employee Developer

PaizoCon GMs, we have sent the adventure to everyone signed up to run it at PaizoCon. You might not have received an email informing you that this is the case, but it should be updated in your downloads.

Paizo Employee Developer

Customer service has nobly gone through the list of GMs set to run this adventure at PaizoCon and manually added the file to those individuals' downloads. It looks like most people on the list already had the file, and about half of those who did not receive the file had provided an email address other than their paizo.com email address (the one used for your account on paizo.com).

PaizoCon GMs who do not have this adventure yet: We cannot add this file to your downloads until you tell us what your paizo.com email address is. Please let both Mike Brock and customer service know ASAP, and we will endeavor to have this added to your downloads on Monday.

Grand Lodge

John, this is one of my favorite PFS scenarios ever. My GM was woefully unprepared and I could tell how excellent it is through that challenge. Kudos and thanks!

Grand Lodge

I have to say, the scenario was quite fantastic! There was quite a bit of nail biting in certain spots, but for good reason. Congratulations of a very entertaining and difficult scenario that was enjoyable. If I get the chance, I would gladly GM this at some time once it's available to my VO.

Grand Lodge

Post Paizocon, this scenario is now only runnable by 5 Star GMs or Venture Officers, is that correct?

Grand Lodge

KestlerGunner wrote:
Post Paizocon, this scenario is now only runnable by 5 Star GMs or Venture Officers, is that correct?

As I recall a conversation I had with John at the convention, this scenario is not available to run (outside of PaizoCon) until after GenCon.

Grand Lodge Global Organized Play Coordinator

KestlerGunner wrote:
Post Paizocon, this scenario is now only runnable by 5 Star GMs or Venture Officers, is that correct?

6-97 and 6-98 are not available to run until after Gen Con.

Liberty's Edge

Michael Brock wrote:
KestlerGunner wrote:
Post Paizocon, this scenario is now only runnable by 5 Star GMs or Venture Officers, is that correct?
6-97 and 6-98 are not available to run until after Gen Con.

But after GenCon will they be available for anyone to run or just the 5-Stars and Venture Officers?


Jester David wrote:
Michael Brock wrote:
KestlerGunner wrote:
Post Paizocon, this scenario is now only runnable by 5 Star GMs or Venture Officers, is that correct?
6-97 and 6-98 are not available to run until after Gen Con.
But after GenCon will they be available for anyone to run or just the 5-Stars and Venture Officers?

According to Mike the 6-98 and 6-99 will need 4 or 5 stars to run after GenCon, even for VO's.

EDIT:This will be the 4 star special and 6-99 will be the 5 star special scenario.

Liberty's Edge

Sniggevert wrote:

According to Mike the 6-98 and 6-99 will need 4 or 5 stars to run after GenCon, even for VO's.

EDIT:This will be the 4 star special and 6-99 will be the 5 star special scenario.

Darn. My region has a couple 4-star GMs but that's the city while I'm out in the burbs, which has its own pool of GMs and players. I think the highest we have is 2-stars.

Scarab Sages

What level PCs can the chronicles be applied to?

Liberty's Edge

LucianC wrote:
What level PCs can the chronicles be applied to?

Level 7 only.

(They can be assigned to a lower level PC, but you'd have to wait until they reach level 7 to apply it.)

Dark Archive

I had played it last sunday at Paizocon UK 2015, and whooo, what a great scenario.

I love 322, a well equilibrate character, with a serious background.

I'll probably create a new character like her.

Community Manager

I quite enjoyed playing 322 myself.

Grand Lodge

Just back from Gencon. It was a blast. Well done, John!

Owner - Kapow Ltd Comics, Cards and Games

Wait, so newer areas without high star VO's won't be able to get this at all? That's sort of lame. Super exclusive club things like this tend to sour audiences quickly.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

Wallie, I think I'm the only four star (currently!) in Columbus, and I don't know if we've any five stars yet. Seems to incentivize running events. (I know I'm trying to get my specials in)

Dark Archive

I played this scenario at Gen Con, and it was great. Considering its ties to Siege of Serpents, and having played it a few nights previous, it was especially fun.

Not sure if this was a mistake or not but on 322's character sheet:

For people who want no info going in about abilities:
322's Interstellar void ability does not have the rules restriction text on it from the void mystery stating that it can be used once per day plus an additional time at 10th level. As such it became an ability which dealt a big chunk of damage, that could be used every turn, so there was almost no reason to use other damaging spells, since it could be used infinitely.

We eventually had to rule that the void mystery text took precedent, because the Oracle was just blasting everything. It might have been intentional, but it lead to a bit of imbalance.

Grand Lodge

Played it tonight and loved it. Final encounter was, while challenging, also truly satisfying.


Played this Sunday morning at Gen Con. Everyone's character got special show-case time, and it was a perfect compliment to 6-97 Siege of Serpents.

Our GM, Chris, was extremely well-prepared and turned in a spectacular performance. I've been gaming since 1978 (37 years) and this is easily among my top 3 favorite gaming experiences in all that time.

My character was 322. Chilling! Role-playing her even creeped out the other players at the table. I cannot wait for her (and all the other Aspis agents) to show up in future scenarios.

Grand Lodge

Had a blast with this at GenCon, however I thought I read that the chronicle would be updated after Paizocon to be a tier (6-8 I believe) and not just level 7. I applied it to an 8th level character thinking this was the case. Is there clarification on this?

Grand Lodge

Yes, the chronicle is meant to be Tier 6-8

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

f5 f5 f5...

Sczarni

So as a 4 star gm... how do i go about getting this to run now that Gen con has ended.

Paizo Employee Developer

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Mark L. Crowell wrote:
So as a 4 star gm... how do i go about getting this to run now that Gen con has ended.

We've started to add those to qualifying GMs' downloads. I would expect the process to be done within a week or two.

Sovereign Court

John Compton wrote:
Mark L. Crowell wrote:
So as a 4 star gm... how do i go about getting this to run now that Gen con has ended.
We've started to add those to qualifying GMs' downloads. I would expect the process to be done within a week or two.

As a more recent 4-star GM, I expect I'm further down the list for that, so shall be patient. Don't need it till next month anyway. Thankfully, PbP has little lead time needed =)

Shadow Lodge

just checking in on this ... 3 weeks since GenCon ended - any word ?

Grand Lodge

Just chiming in on what Wraith235 said.


It seems that the halfling pregen, Joliryn, has an inconsistency in her statblock. It says everywhere that she has a scimitar, including her weapon focus feat and her art, but the offense section lists a +1 flaming kukri, with a +12 attack bonus, which seems to include the weapon focus feat.

Contributor

Any word on the availability of this one for four stars yet? I imagine with the shakeups in VO positions and bringing on a new coordinator that things get pushed back. But I know my players are dying to play this one, so I'd hate to see it forgotten.

Grand Lodge

If you have not contacted Customer Service about getting it added to your download, go ahead and do so. Some people have fallen through the cracks.


Doctor Mono wrote:
Any word on the availability of this one for four stars yet? I imagine with the shakeups in VO positions and bringing on a new coordinator that things get pushed back. But I know my players are dying to play this one, so I'd hate to see it forgotten.

I just mailed customer services and I received it in about 3 days.

Liberty's Edge

Can VO'S run this or just 4 stars?

Grand Lodge

Are the Evil Pregens available as a separate download anywhere?


Out of curiosity, will it be made available for the general public at one point?


Diego Valdez wrote:

Hello Fedor,

We run that report once a week, so you will likely see

them sometime next week.

Two weeks passed (three and a half months since 4th star) - still can not purchase Bonekeep 1, 2, 3,

6-98, 7-98, 7-99
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8wrx
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8xkj?Pathfinder-Society-

Special-Ruins-of-Bonekeep-Level-2-Maze-to-the-Mind-Slave
http://paizo.com/products/btpy97st?Pathfinder-Society-

Special-Ruins-of-Bonekeep-Level-3-The-Wakening-Tomb
http://paizo.com/products/btpy9cu0?Pathfinder-Society-

Scenario-6-98-Serpents-Rise
http://paizo.com/products/btpy9lzy
http://paizo.com/products/btpy9mbd
all this links show "unavailable" text under price, not

"Add to Cart" button


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Would love if some exclusive stuff from 1e could finally get a general release.

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