The Strange Aeons Adventure Path begins with "In Search of Sanity," a mind-shattering foray into horror where the heroes awaken within the walls of the eerie Briarstone Asylum, their minds wracked and memories missing. Working together to recover their missing time, they soon learn that their amnesia is but a symptom of a much greater cosmic menace. As they struggle to retain their sanity, the heroes must ally with other asylum residents and fight against the monstrosities that have taken over the building and plunged it into nightmare. Can the adventurers defeat the terror that stalks the halls and free themselves from their prison of madness?
This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Strange Aeons Adventure Path and includes:
"In Search of Sanity," a Pathfinder adventure for 1st-level characters, by F. Wesley Schneider.
A double-sized article that peers into the dangerous realm of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods who make up the Elder Mythos, by James Jacobs.
A dollmaker's macabre secret in the Pathfinder's Journal, by Jason Keeley.
A collection of weird and frightful new monsters, by Eric Hindley, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, and F. Wesley Schneider.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-882-3
Bring your campaign to life! The In Search of Sanity SoundPack from Syrinscape is a complete audio solution when playing through the first chapter of the Strange Aeons Adventure Path.
"In Search of Sanity" is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (723 kb zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
This part of the Adventure Path sets the perfect start for a Lovecraftian horror setting. It is very clear cut who is good and who is evil, making the Players believe it is always very clear, which is where we want them, so we can surprise them later!
It is one big dungeon crawl, which can be a bit tedious, but otherwise an amazing adventure and a great start. Not too much prep-work needed, so you are able to focus on stuff like soundscape, handouts etc.
It would IMO be totally legit to have the Tatterman toy with the PCs like a cat with mice. Suboptimal, yes, but legitimate. He enjoys instilling fear just as much as he does killing.
I agree that his fear aura means that it's possible for half the party to fail their saves, leaving the others in a very sticky situation. If you like, you could replace this with some weird/creepy terrain effects -- undulating surfaces, time slowing down (maybe instead of fleeing, PCs get hit with a Slow spell), bizarre sensory effects, you name it. That's the good thing about being on the borders of the Dreamlands: you really have carte blanche to get weird and creative.
Doug M.
Ideas and Clues such as these should have been incorporated in the adventure...It's already tough as it is to get ready for an adventure like this, and If you actually have to reconstruct or alter much of it it's even tougher..
I have learned my lesson as a GM now, atleast regarding these adventure paths.
I have also GM'd Rise of the Runelords, and It's basically same thing there, super hard bosses that you simply can't beat unless you are a min/max player and know every option you have available, in that case it was Cold Iron. :)But atleast there they could Flee :)
<_< Umm, Rise of the Runelord doesn't have super hard bosses that can be only beat as min maxer... I mean, if you are talking about Erylium, she isn't hard, she is uber annoying :'D
<_< Umm, Rise of the Runelord doesn't have super hard bosses that can be only beat as min maxer... I mean, if you are talking about Erylium, she isn't hard, she is uber annoying :'D
Well..I guess you are right in a way, She's not hard in a way that she Doesn't do much damage so no one will die , so after battling or rather trying to battle her for like an hour or so they fled. But thats not very heroic or very fun at all...
Agree on Erylium: she's not super deadly, but she is annoying and non-fun.
WRT Strange Aeons, nothing is perfect and most APs require at least a bit of work, even if it's just to adapt it to your particular party. I think the first module is overall really good, so I'm willing to invest a little time.
Also, note that the Tatterman as written is not *that* tough. The main problem with him is his Frightful Presence, which can eliminate some party members in Round One. If you can get past that -- and paladins, fighters with Bravery, and high-Will save types like clerics should have a good chance -- then he's not actually that deadly a boss. He's a CR 5 monster with mediocre AC and not that many hp. He doesn't even get surprise -- you have a d4 of rounds to prepare for him once Zandalus falls. Against four well-played third level PCs, he should go down pretty fast. Even if you lose one PC, it's still a fair fight as long as you have either a heavy melee hitter (smiting paladin or raging barbarian) or have picked up on the silver weapon thing.
If you want to make an adjustment, here's a quick-and-dirty idea that Spastic Puma came up with back in November: if you fail the Frightful Presence save, then instead of panicking you're forced into the Dreamlands for 10 rounds. You can return to the combat sooner, but in order to do that, you must either solve a riddle or puzzle (could be an actual riddle or a couple of skill checks) presented by a dream creature -- a hookah-smoking caterpillar or whatever -- or, you must defeat something. For an individual 3rd level PC, a CR 2 encounter would be about right here; for two 3rd level PCs, CR 4. That way, the players have something to do besides sitting around while their character runs away for ten rounds.
How did everyone deal with Part 1: Prison of the Mind, A1A. The Cells NPC Campre Linweigh? If the party saves him it doesn't really say what he knows or doesn't know.
I'm a little vague. What were the PCs doing before they found themselves in a cell? Were they working in the asylum, or were they inmates? The prologue suggests this all took a day or two of the tatterman burning through the asylum population, and the PCs accompanied the cthonic rite that freed him. At some point they became amnesiacs. Do their memories start when they wake up in the cell? Did the tatterman strip their memories when he 'killed' them?
The PFS sanctioned link for chronicles isn't complete. It's missing the chronicles.
It has the first page about what level ranges for each book for PFS but yeah, missing the actual chronicles for each book. I am eagerly awaiting the chronicles so I can drive my local PFS crew insane.
