Pathfinder Society Scenario #7–13: Captive in Crystal (PFRPG) PDF

I played this in the standard campaign at high tier with a four person party.

Starting with a 3 score I adjust that for

-1: Lore
There is a lot of information coming from the GM. While I like that in general as it grounds the scenario in Golarion lore there was just too much background. It also was not clear what was critical information and what was flavor. As it was I did not ask questions that I would have otherwise asked so that we could finish the scenario in a reasonable time.

I've now run this once and GMed it about a million times. (Well, six times.) This is a great scenario, and it has a couple of very interesting NPCs that are fun for the GM to play.

The scenario is much more fun to run if you have a group of players at least some of whom are interested in the roleplaying and negotiation. In those cases, it can easily run long; 2 out of my 5 slots at PaizoCon were pushing to be finished on time, and the other 3 all ran at least 4.5 hours.

I recommend printing out a color picture of the two key NPCs to clip to a GM screen or show to the players. In at least one case, I had a couple of players go gaga over the cover NPC....

It was also fun hearing the PFS Season 8 description partway through PaizoCon and realizing that this is probably one of the key lead-in scenarios.

Yes, I am a Geologist. Yes, I am allowed to make rock puns. Yes, I know it is a slippery slope. No, I'm not sorry :P

After having played this scenario and now having run it twice last week, #7-13 Captive in Crystal is now my favorite scenario of Season 7. I do have a small bit of personal bias in this, but by admitting it, I hope you will forgive it.

First - This is the first Pathfinder scenario/adventure/story/book I have ever read at the time of this review (not written by James Jacobs) that has 100% accuracy when it comes to descriptions of geological phenomena. Every mineral, metal, rock, and gem was set up absolutely correctly and really brought life to an amazing location! Things were so well written that I found myself expounding on the descriptions even beyond the box text - so much so that one of my players told me a few days after playing that he went home that night and looked up a few of the things that were mentioned because he wanted to see what they looked like - and was equally impressed! Win for Pathfinder and win for science!

Second - There are no published adventures that can predict with total accuracy what actions the PCs will take when faced with Plot/NPCs. The best ones give a GM the tools and knowledge to take any action no matter how far-fetched and work it into the adventure without having to utter the hated "beyond the scope of this adventure" line. Captive in Crystal is among the best I've ever seen at these - without making them feel "railroaded" by the story, the GM is given more than enough information to allow the PCs total freedom in how they approach every journey. The PCs can follow any of the breadcrumbs they want to, and it all fits within a four-hour time slot with ease, and not once did I find myself having to say no to any of the players (except when they rolled low)!

Third - Each combat brings something different, and each is well balanced to provide a good challenge for all kinds of parties. I strongly urge anyone who GMs this to find a way to show the full-color artwork for the monsters and NPC that show up after the PCs reach Area A. It didn't matter what minis I used - having the art there for the players to stare at made the fight "feel" a lot more intense!

(Especially at the high tier! GMs, make sure you read the tactics written on Page 9 carefully or you might accidentally kill a PC or two!)

The second-to-last fight was one all the PCs I had tried to avoid, but the GM is given enough information to make the players understand why it has to be done through battle - though most of my players went out of their way to deal non-lethal damage to try and save lives.

The final fight was a solid challenge. In a tier 5-9, the enemies brought things to the table that PCs should be able to deal with, and even though it was close for one of my groups, both tables managed to tackle it and save the Archive. The final fight is the only nitpick I have with the scenario, though, in the form of the combat tactics for the "real" enemy - through reading its story and mission goals, the conclusion I drew was that it would not engage the PCs directly until it felt threatened or at risk of having its mission disrupted. That happened after only 1 round for my first table and 3 rounds for my second table, so I think it worked out very well in the end. The scenario was also vague on whether or not the sonic damage bypassed hardness, but after pre-rolling a dozen rounds both ways, I was able to find the way I think it was intended (ignore hardness and it's 3-6 rounds before the Archive reaches its 1st threshold and 10-12 for the 2nd. If you allow hardness it's ~10 rounds for the 1st and ~25 for the second).

Fourth - The NPCs. Reyshal is now one of my favorite NPCs ever. His story is concise yet deep, and I found it very easy to find a "voice" (accent, cadence, even body language) for him and draw the PCs into RP with him. There's enough meat there that the RP could go on for a bit, but his "trigger" conditions make it easy to avoid letting the RP run on too long, moving "right onto business" with the next part of the scenario, all while making things flow very naturally. I loved "may she reign forever" and worked it in every time he mentioned the Sultana (may she reign forever).

Sorrina was also very well written. The descriptions of her movements were reminiscent of either a seismic trace and/or damp fingers moving on the rim of a wine glass. Both were very evocative of the scenery around her when the PCs arrived in the Archive, and added even more to the atmosphere.

After (py)writing way more than I thought I would...I think it's clear that by my reckoning this scenario is the schist! This is my absolute favorite of Season 7, and definitely on my top 10 of all time PFS scenario list. I would happily run this anytime and anywhere!

Mike Bramnik
VC Bloomington IN

I played this under duress as I had signed up for a different scenario and then when the rest of the table showed they had already emailed the GM asking him to change to this scenario. Soooo, playing high tier with a group of strangers where I was the lone melee fighter.

Even though I basically enjoyed the scenario, ANY time you have an encounter where theoretically your whole party could be surrounded by 4-5 large creatures with reach AND basically unhindered movement (and who have high initiatives and multiple attacks after surrounding you)and who could kill you all before anyone in your party can act...that scenario can never be 5 stars. Sorry.