A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-5.
Less than a decade ago, the Pathfinder Society established a lodge in Nirmathas, an act that infuriated the nation's expansionist rival Molthune. The latter outlawed the Society soon after, and ever since Pathfinders have relied on smugglers like the Varisian entrepreneur Guaril Karela to slip supplies past the Molthuni blockade for both the lodge and the Society's war-torn neighbors. Something has intercepted those shipments. Can the PCs uncover the culprit and save the Society's reputation in Nirmathas?
Content in "Trouble in Tamran" also ties into a special metaplot element from Pathfinder Society Special #6–98: Serpents Rise. Players who have completed that special event are encouraged to bring its Chronicle sheet when playing this adventure.
Written by Benjamin Bruck.
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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Played this at the low tier. Party was Cleric, Unchained Barbarian, Sorcerer, Monk, Fighter and a Ranger.
Most of the scenario is an investigation with multiple leads and locations, with plenty of opportunity for role play. The problem is that there isn't enough clues given and it led to us coasting from one encounter to another. Combat is few and far between but suitably challenging.
Having not played or GM'ed the scenario to which this is a sequel I found the plot somewhat awkward and confusing. That was the only downer really for me.
I Gm'ed this one with 3 players and a Pre-gen. I played it earlier in the season, and thought it would be an awesome offering to my players.
The story struck a nice balance with me, multiple possible offenders, set in Nirmathas, and expanding on it's exposition, and the combats are good and tough without being unforgiving to more discerning players.
Oh Dear, My Poor Party:
My Party consisted of a Pre-Gen Paladin, an Alchemist, a Hunter, and a Cleric, they got as far in as the battle in the Red Light District and were systematically killed after the Alchemist killed the Pre-gen Paladin with an imprecise bomb. Otherwise, they might have made it
The BBEG in this one is a tough nut, because of her adaptability, and when I played it, she made a mess of the party we had, but we still made it.
I had the good fortune to play this adventure with a PC who'd also played Masks of the Living God. This scenario is set some time after that, and features several of the same NPCs and locations, so that it really does feel like coming home. It's not a mega advantage, but it created more investment in the outcome for my character. That added bonus is worth a star.
Apart from that, it's an okay but not spectacular adventure. The investigation is fairly smart in that you can find clues but you still have to think about it and figuring it all out isn't guaranteed, but the adventure won't necessarily fail catastrophically if you can't do "the puzzle" either. That's a pretty fine line to tread and this scenario does that well.
The plot itself isn't all that original, and what irritated me, is that we only found out about it towards the end; all the NPCs you meet before that were in the "only talks if tortured" category, which we didn't want to. So at the end you get this sort of backup plot exposition. I'd have preferred a more piecemeal exposition over the course of the adventure.
The combats were (at high tier) mostly easy. Mostly; one fight has TPK potential, so stay on your toes.
The BBEG is built pretty cleverly; my GM remarked that he liked how well he was able to adapt to the PCs.
Overall it's a nice simple adventure, made much more interesting by its good tie-in to Masks.
Played low tier with several occult characters. Solid investigation, with social encounters, combat encounters, and a mini dungeon. Great way to give all characters a chance to shine and definitely recommended for new characters. Tie to Serpent's Rise very interesting and gives a bit more insight into the subject in question. I'm not sure how much I would have appreciated those references however if I hadn't played in the special. I think it might be better for local groups if the GM star requirement was waived from the special to allow everyone more of a chance to share in the experience since it plays so heavily into the end of the scenario.
Correct. It would be impossible for a character to have the Serpent's Rise chronicle before they play this one, as the first is a 6-8 chronicle and this is a 1-5 scenario.
It kind of sucks that the blurb mentions tie-ins to previous scenarios, but they're all unavailable. PFS aren't the only ones that run scenarios from time to time. :(
The map for the interior of the fort in the scenario is not listed as being from any particular Map Pack. Does anyone know where it is located? It doesn't seem to be in the GameMastery Ruins Map Pack (at least from what I can see on the Paizo website).
The map for the interior of the fort in the scenario is not listed as being from any particular Map Pack. Does anyone know where it is located? It doesn't seem to be in the GameMastery Ruins Map Pack (at least from what I can see on the Paizo website).
I believe it's a custom map; in my experience, most scenarios have at least one.
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