Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity (Strange Aeons 1 of 6) (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #109: In Search of Sanity (Strange Aeons 1 of 6) (PFRPG)
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Waking Nightmares

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:

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
SoundSet on Syrinscape
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

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One of the best openers to an AP I've ever been in

5/5

To put it simply, I absolutely adored this book. I will never, ever forget the bizarre surreal experience of exploring the asylum and having no idea what was going on, the desperate struggle for survival, the dreamy, jaundiced quality to everything... just absolutely 10/10 on atmosphere.

I was a player, so can't comment on anything behind the scenes.

I want to give huge kudos to Paizo for setting a book in an asylum and not making mental illness the real terror, or making the place terrifying because of its mentally ill inmates. The place was beset by real monsters, which made the challenges faced by the staff who were trying to protect the patients all the more upsetting. The patients were handled sensitively and some were truly tragic, and none were monsters simply because of their afflictions. In a setting often beset by lazy, ignorant writing this was a real triumph.

It's not easy to tackle cosmic horror in a game where the players are accustomed to being empowered and are assumed to be able to kill everything they face. I think this book handled it admirably. The encounters seemed a little harder than I'm used to in a first book (perhaps subjective) and the things themselves were horrifying enough that even defeating them wouldn't exclude us from the psychological trauma of facing them down. It rewards thoughtful roleplay with a thought to real psychological consequences.

After reading other reviews of this entire AP, I realize that it holds much greater delights for those who are extremely familiar with the source material and perhaps comes across as bizarre or underwhelming for those who don't know it, or who have a very limited or stereotyped idea of what weird fiction and cosmic horror should be. That's a shame, but I want to add my voice to say that I think this AP was (largely) a unique and wonderful experience, and an excellent way to bring cosmic horror themes to a combat-oriented role playing game.

One minor point of note - I don't think we'd have made it through this AP if we'd used the sanity system out of the box. Too many things would be utterly ruinous to the point where we'd have been gibbering idiots before even the halfway point. We just ran a houseruled version which worked neatly enough, though I'd be interested to hear how it went for anyone who just went for it as is!


5/5


5/5




Another excellent opening of an AP

5/5

In Search of Sanity is something unusual for Paizo's opening adventures - it is effectively a massive dungeon crawl set entirely in one building. The dungeon oozes atmosphere, has many unique encounters and events, a smattering of RP opportunities and some really memorable fights.

I'm very sad to see F.W.Schneider leave Paizo - I was a bit afraid that this adventure will be written in his signature, somewhat melodramatic style, but I was overjoyed to see that it reads easily while retaining all the spooky quirks which Wes is famous for. My players enjoyed In Search of Sanity very much and we will have many fond memories of the adventure. On to the rest of the Adventure Path, and a warm farewell to Wes!

Oh, and never, EVER trust small dogs found in grim dungeons. Never.


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Silver Crusade

James Jacobs wrote:
Blackfingers wrote:
The only support article I see listed is "details on the Mythos" - is that a double length article, or have you just not revealed what the other one is? Also, this looks incredible! Pretty neat to see Schneider start off two AP's after his long break from writing adventures.

It is indeed a double length article about the gods of the Elder Mythos; it details, IIRC, 6 Outer Gods and 14 Great Old Ones. Can't remember off the top of my head, but there's more Great Old Ones than Outer Gods for sure... A LOT of new ones too. Both "new" in that they're familiar creatures from the mythos, and "new" in that they're actually brand new.

Look at the article we did on the Osirion deities back in Mummy's Mask for an example of how it'll be organized.

I'd thought I wasn't going to be able to do much with this one other than outline the AP itself, but it turns out that I get to write most of the backmatter articles and a LOT of the monsters fro the AP... yay! But even better is working with the fine folks at Chaosium to get some cross-promotional stuff going on!

F#~~! YEAH!

This was awesome to wake up to!

Silver Crusade Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
artemis_segundo wrote:
In which nation will take place this AP?

Locations will include...

Spoiler:

  • Ustalav (Thrushmoor specifically)
  • Casmaron
    aaaand
  • Carcosa, on a planet(?) in the Hyades

  • 1 person marked this as a favorite.

    I like the premise of the start of the adventure. Like oldskool A4 In the Dungeons of the Slavelords or Tunnels and Trolls Naked Doom but with more chaos. And insanity. I was already interested in Strange Aeons despite my general disinterest in Cthulhu-esqueries.

    Well done Paizo. I look forward to this even more than Iron Gods, which I ultimately found wanting. I'm unsure whether I want to play or run this more...


    I can't wait for this to be released. I haven't gotten to play in a campaign for ages, only GM, but one of my players is willing to GM this in the fall, so I'll finally get to play again.

    When do the player guides normally get released?

    Silver Crusade Contributor

    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    The Imperator wrote:

    I can't wait for this to be released. I haven't gotten to play in a campaign for ages, only GM, but one of my players is willing to GM this in the fall, so I'll finally get to play again.

    When do the player guides normally get released?

    Usually in the same month as the first volume. They aim for the street date of the volume, but delays have been known to happen.


    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    A start like Planescape: Torment? Argh, the temptation...

    Dark Archive

    Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
    Kalindlara wrote:
    artemis_segundo wrote:
    In which nation will take place this AP?

    Locations will include...

    ** spoiler omitted **

    Eyup, definitely getting this for those reasons.


    I can't wait to read those articles.


    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Hunter of Shadows is Rising!

    I subscribed for Hell's Vengeance. I'm staying for Strange Aeons!


    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    I don't want to rush the year, but my little gug self can't wait for this!!!


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    jeuce wrote:

    Fearless wretch

    Insanity
    He watches
    Lurking beneath the sea...

    I was thinking more along the lines of Welcome Home (Sanitarium). :P

    Liberty's Edge

    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    James Jacobs wrote:
    Dragon78 wrote:
    Does this mean that the players will start with some madness or insanity?
    That's exactly what it means. (That being a variant form of amnesia. MAYBE something more... you'll need to wait and see for more details!)

    Maybe campaign traits will depend on the form of amnesia your character developed. With strange benefits coming from having a different perception of reality :-)

    Shadow Lodge

    5 people marked this as a favorite.

    One gaze was all it took
    She gave me
    The Innsmouth look

    Uh, sorry. Wrong song. Nevertheless, good going guys. This is going to be one of those tormenting AP's which you both hunger to read and want to play in.

    Darklands AP next!

    Liberty's Edge

    3 people marked this as a favorite.

    I'm waking up to ash and dust
    I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
    I'm breathing in the chemicals
    I'm breaking in, shaping up
    Checking out on the prison bus
    This is it, the apocalypse


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Woran wrote:
    Nothing is more fabulous then C'thullu purple.

    Everybody's cute! Even me. But in purple, I'm stunning!


    Another vote for Cthulhu purple as the color scheme.

    With this and the Ravenloft resurgence, this is pretty much the Year of Horror!

    Dark Archive

    How soon will get a list of the various installments and writers for each AP?


    Ooooh, waking up with amnesia in an asylum? More than Torment, I'm getting some strong Sanitarium vibes here!

    Dark Archive

    7 people marked this as a favorite.
    Auxmaulous wrote:
    How soon will get a list of the various installments and writers for each AP?

    #2 The Thrushmore Terror by Crystal Frasier

    #3 Dreams of the Yellow King by Mike Shel

    #4 The Whisper out of Time by Richard Pett

    #5 What grows within by John Compton

    #6 Black Stars beckon by Jim Groves

    Liberty's Edge

    How is this mythos article different from that from Carrion Crown?


    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    A solid list of writers. Although it would have been cool if Paizo had brought in Sandy Petersen himself to write one of the installments.


    Ashram wrote:
    jeuce wrote:

    Fearless wretch

    Insanity
    He watches
    Lurking beneath the sea...
    I was thinking more along the lines of Welcome Home (Sanitarium). :P

    Now I have to play that one too! :p ;)

    Silver Crusade

    3 people marked this as a favorite.
    Marco Massoudi wrote:
    Auxmaulous wrote:
    How soon will get a list of the various installments and writers for each AP?
    #2 The Thrushmore Terror by Crystal Frasier

    Rampaging Were-Corgi!?


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
    Gambit wrote:
    Another vote for Cthulhu purple as the color scheme.

    Given this:

    Adam Daigle wrote:

    Surprise! That's a final cover. No mock up here!

    (At least as far as I know, and as the developer, I'm pretty sure that's final unless some minor tweaking goes on before it ships to the printer.)

    I don't think any change of colour is likely. Typically we get a rough mock-up and then wait about three months to see the final cover. It looks as if Adam and the design team are messing about with the natural order of things...

    ...which given the theme of this AP, is entirely right and proper.

    Gambit wrote:
    With this and the Ravenloft resurgence, this is pretty much the Year of Horror!

    Don't forget Horror Adventures! Whoot! :D


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
    Rysky wrote:
    Marco Massoudi wrote:
    Auxmaulous wrote:
    How soon will get a list of the various installments and writers for each AP?
    #2 The Thrushmore Terror by Crystal Frasier
    Rampaging Were-Corgi!?

    Well, duh! :D


    I can't wait to find out what the articles for the next volumes will be.

    Dark Archive

    Marco Massoudi wrote:

    #3 Dreams of the Yellow King by Mike Shel

    #4 The Whisper out of Time by Richard Pett

    I don't think I'll sub the AP, but the above two entries sound interesting and I like Pett and Shel's prior work. Maybe I'll pick these two up at the store when they come out.

    Thanks for the list!


    Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
    Paladinosaur wrote:
    How is this mythos article different from that from Carrion Crown?

    I expect more details will be given on each Diety, and there will be twice as many of them. If it's a double sized article, we may even be looking at a full page for each Power.


    Wake of the Watcher article was bigger than normal, with an expanded Bestiary.

    Paizo Employee Developer

    4 people marked this as a favorite.
    Marco Massoudi wrote:
    Auxmaulous wrote:
    How soon will get a list of the various installments and writers for each AP?

    #2 The Thrushmore Terror by Crystal Frasier

    #3 Dreams of the Yellow King by Mike Shel

    #4 The Whisper out of Time by Richard Pett

    #5 What grows within by John Compton

    #6 Black Stars beckon by Jim Groves

    This was the line up when we announced the Adventure Path at GenCon, but between then and now things have changed a bit. The Thrushmoor Terror is by Tito Leati and Dreams of the Yellow King is by Ron Lundeen.


    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    I think my mind just correlated all its contents.

    Liberty's Edge

    Adam Daigle wrote:
    This was the line up when we announced the Adventure Path at GenCon, but between then and now things have changed a bit. The Thrushmoor Terror is by Tito Leati and Dreams of the Yellow King is by Ron Lundeen.

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    A second all-male AP in a row. :(

    Still be getting it though.


    I am so immensely excited for this. My regular pathfinder gaming group played Cthulhu 7E a few months ago and absolutely loved it, so when this campaign comes out, we'll definitely run it. We're playing Iron Gods at the moment, and I'd say well wrap up just in time.

    Paizo Employee Creative Director

    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    H2Osw wrote:
    James Jacobs wrote:
    Blackfingers wrote:
    The only support article I see listed is "details on the Mythos" - is that a double length article, or have you just not revealed what the other one is? Also, this looks incredible! Pretty neat to see Schneider start off two AP's after his long break from writing adventures.

    It is indeed a double length article about the gods of the Elder Mythos; it details, IIRC, 6 Outer Gods and 14 Great Old Ones. Can't remember off the top of my head, but there's more Great Old Ones than Outer Gods for sure... A LOT of new ones too. Both "new" in that they're familiar creatures from the mythos, and "new" in that they're actually brand new.

    Look at the article we did on the Osirion deities back in Mummy's Mask for an example of how it'll be organized.

    I'd thought I wasn't going to be able to do much with this one other than outline the AP itself, but it turns out that I get to write most of the backmatter articles and a LOT of the monsters fro the AP... yay! But even better is working with the fine folks at Chaosium to get some cross-promotional stuff going on!

    Is working with Chaosium one of your secret projects?

    Nope. That info has been out there more or less since last Gen Con.

    Paizo Employee Creative Director

    5 people marked this as a favorite.
    Paladinosaur wrote:
    How is this mythos article different from that from Carrion Crown?

    It's longer. Has twice as many gods. Focuses EXCLUSIVELY on them, in the same format as the article we did in Mummy's Mask.

    Liberty's Edge

    So it's essentially deity write-ups in the same format as the Mummy's Mask ones, presenting a pantheon with all the mechanical stuff?


    Luckily one of the other members of my group is down for DMing this so I get to play in it. Really looking forward to this one.


    Will it have art for every other deity like the Mummy's Mask article?

    Liberty's Edge

    3 people marked this as a favorite.
    Dragon78 wrote:
    Will it have art for every other deity like the Mummy's Mask article?

    The Demented Artist archetype is based on the poor souls that were hired to draw those ;-)


    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    I get to play this one!

    SO. JAZZED.

    Chaotic Good Desnan/Yog-Sothoth syncretist whose "sanity" is purely notional? Possibly. Quite possibly.


    Huh. Will we be getting the Old Cults divine obedience and boons?


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Adahn_Cielo wrote:
    Ooooh, waking up with amnesia in an asylum? More than Torment, I'm getting some strong Sanitarium vibes here!

    Unfortunately, my players would probably play it like Nine Princes in Amber. They don't get into the horror vibe.


    Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

    This sounds AWESOME!

    Silver Crusade

    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Adam Daigle wrote:
    Marco Massoudi wrote:
    Auxmaulous wrote:
    How soon will get a list of the various installments and writers for each AP?

    #2 The Thrushmore Terror by Crystal Frasier

    #3 Dreams of the Yellow King by Mike Shel

    #4 The Whisper out of Time by Richard Pett

    #5 What grows within by John Compton

    #6 Black Stars beckon by Jim Groves

    This was the line up when we announced the Adventure Path at GenCon, but between then and now things have changed a bit. The Thrushmoor Terror is by Tito Leati and Dreams of the Yellow King is by Ron Lundeen.

    So... no Were-Corgis? ;_;

    Paizo Employee Creative Director

    Samy wrote:
    So it's essentially deity write-ups in the same format as the Mummy's Mask ones, presenting a pantheon with all the mechanical stuff?

    Pretty much, yup. Focusing on flavor but with the worshiper info, which is more or less aimed at NPCs since, you know... Elder Mythos.

    Paizo Employee Creative Director

    Dragon78 wrote:
    Will it have art for every other deity like the Mummy's Mask article?

    Yup. Focusing on ones we haven't yet done art for or won't be doing art for later in the AP.

    Paizo Employee Creative Director

    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Zhangar wrote:
    Huh. Will we be getting the Old Cults divine obedience and boons?

    Not in that article, no. Boons and obediences like that take up WAY too much space. That said, I have it on good authority that the AP will have a couple of other articles that might help out there. For NPCs, of course, cause you know. Elder Mythos.

    Silver Crusade

    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    So the solution is simple. Everybody play NPCs!

    Dark Archive

    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Rysky wrote:
    So the solution is simple. Everybody play NPCs!

    I never play anything else.

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