A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.
Seven years ago, Pathfinders entered Absalom’s shattered Precipice Quarter in pursuit of a ruby ring but also rescued a strange survivor. She has since grown to adulthood and exhibited a rebellious spirit connected to the ruined school where the Pathfinders found her. The woman’s family has contacted the Society, hoping that its agents can escort her back to the haunted site and unravel the Drownyard’s relentless mysteries.
Written by Alex Greenshields.
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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There are so many ways this one can be played. A fully diplomatic party can roll through, or a full combat party, and a balanced party, such as the one I had will love the options.
Don't let the options fool you though, even though this is only a 1-5 tier scenario there is some crunchy bits, if the party stumbles.
The balance of the scenario was excellent, returning to the Drownyards was quite an experience, both emotional and physical for J. and for the players involved.
Should I have the chance to play this later on, I will jump at it, full marks on this one!
I got to play this at Pacificon, and the GM was solid, very prepared.
I was excited to learn that the module was a sequel, but it's sequel to such an old module that I suspected I no longer had a character who had done the original who was also still in the level range for this one. Turns out, I did have one character in the right range, so I showed up to the game with that PC and let the GM know. He played that very well, with the NPCs remembering me and asking about certain details of my activities as a Pathfinder. It was fun.
Spoiler:
The module itself is one of the "new school" Pathfinder Society modules -- there have been problems with overpowered characters and combat murder-hobos ruining things for other players in Pathfinder Society, so there was talk about increasing the combat difficulty to stop these overpowered characters from dominating... but then it was decided to instead just pull the rug out, and create a bunch of scenarios that can be solved without combat at all. This is one such scenario. There are a bunch of potential fights, but they can also be side-stepped or negotiated away.
The big season opener of 7-00 also seems to have this kind of option for the boss fight, and some players at Pacificon were shocked to see one table of players finish that module through negotiations instead of a combat slog. Personally, I think this is a good decision that PFS management made. I like it, at least as a "tough but possible if you're really good at talking" option.
So back to this module. In our case, most of the early encounters were in fact solved with zero violence. The final encounter looked to be the same, but we hadn't had any fights and the conversation wasn't going our way, so people just started slinging arrows and everything went wild. When the main NPC sorta froze up with fear, I simply stood by her and readied to attack any enemy that got near her, but they were dispatched so quickly that I never fired a shot. So the combat wasn't super challenging.
Still, it was fun. And it was great to be able to recruit the main NPC into Pathfinder Society. Good conclusion, very talk-heavy scenario (at least the way we played it). I recommend it, but not as a tough module. It's more just for the fun of it.
This scenario is a wonderful sequel to #6 Black Waters. Playing/running that classic scenario is not required but it does help to provide context and continuity. There is a ton of RP potential in this one, and truth be told I have not completely utilized it in full yet and I've ran it twice already. The combats are fun, potentially deadly, and completely avoidable--there is something to be said about getting through an entire scenario without ever having to unsheath your sword.
The mood and the setting of the scenario is top notch, and really goes to show just how varied and well-developed Absalom truly is. In the Inner Sea, adventure can come right from your back door, and School of Spirits is rife with spooky atmosphere!
Get this scenario if you want to know what it is to tackle Season 7 in all of it's wonderful variety, and mix some horror and intrigue into your PFS experience.
I loved Black Waters. One of the better ones with a lot of flavor and potential to add your own twists. Fun story, interesting NPCs, and can be very short to run.
I'm trilled that there is finally a return to the area and I hope it lives up.
Wondering when this scenario will be available for download, since it was supposedly available for purchase yesterday. Anybody know what's going on with it?
Black Waters was a lot of fun. I should GM it again before doing this one.
IMO, the coolest experience would be to intentionally grab a group of players expecting to go to School of Spirits and have them build characters with the idea that they are fresh-faced young recruits, running Confirmation and Black Waters and a few other adventures that are fun for low levels, and then have them "age up" the characters for Season 7 (assuming they started in Season 0, so add +7 years), perhaps gradually with 1 year for every scenario after Black Waters (making School of Spirits their 10th, so they play in subtier 4-5) or just all at once at some point.
Black Waters was a lot of fun. I should GM it again before doing this one.
IMO, the coolest experience would be to intentionally grab a group of players expecting to go to School of Spirits and have them build characters with the idea that they are fresh-faced young recruits, running Confirmation and Black Waters and a few other adventures that are fun for low levels, and then have them "age up" the characters for Season 7 (assuming they started in Season 0, so add +7 years), perhaps gradually with 1 year for every scenario after Black Waters (making School of Spirits their 10th, so they play in subtier 4-5) or just all at once at some point.
I don't know, I've always found The Confirmation boring and underwhelming. Silent Tide and Blakros Museum Scenarios (minus Silver Mount), though would be a pretty epic run.
Black Waters was a lot of fun. I should GM it again before doing this one.
IMO, the coolest experience would be to intentionally grab a group of players expecting to go to School of Spirits and have them build characters with the idea that they are fresh-faced young recruits, running Confirmation and Black Waters and a few other adventures that are fun for low levels, and then have them "age up" the characters for Season 7 (assuming they started in Season 0, so add +7 years), perhaps gradually with 1 year for every scenario after Black Waters (making School of Spirits their 10th, so they play in subtier 4-5) or just all at once at some point.
I don't know, I've always found The Confirmation boring and underwhelming. Silent Tide and Blakros Museum Scenarios (minus Silver Mount), though would be a pretty epic run.
The idea was to emphasize the fact that these were fresh recruits on their first missions. Replace with any other scenario you prefer and you could even call it their confirmation! :)
