A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.
The Peerless Empire of shaitan genies has warred with their fiery counterparts for centuries, and thinly stretched resources leave the shaitans in need of additional aid. They have founded a new state-sanctioned mercenary company known as the Ungrounded, which draws upon free agents from across the multiverse. One of the Society’s few friends on the Plane of Earth has recommended at least a handful of Pathfinders join the Ungrounded, knowing that even a few months’ service could dramatically enhance the Society’s reputation (and fill those agents’ pockets) in this distant realm. The PCs travel to the magnificent Opaline Vault as the Society’s first envoys, but in doing so they must survive the otherworldly threats that lurk in both this strange environment and within their own ranks.
Content in “Ungrounded but Unbroken” also contributes directly to the ongoing storyline of the Sovereign Court faction.
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild 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.
Ungrounded is a mix of skill challenges, roleplay, and combat.
Ungrounded is basically a boot camp. Your PCs are going to be unfairly intimidated, harassed, yelled at, and maybe more. I found humor in it and played up to it, but others might not.
I think this scenario is ideal for level 1-2 because you’re still a novice and training. If my PC was level 4-5, I would have disliked this scenario.
Having said that, all aspects of this scenario were good. Unlike other reviewers, I felt there was a lot of flavor in this location (GM fluff?).
I just read Amanda's review and I have to say, we the players were clueless. I'm just glad the GM didn't penalize us because it could have easily spoiled the game.
”Detailed Rating”:
Length: Medium (3.5 hours). We skipped the optional.
Experience: 6 weak PCs at subtier 1-2 (we had two level 1 rogues).
Sweet Spot: Subtier 1-2 because it makes the most sense and PCs will not feel the loss of dignity as much.
Entertainment: Was funny to me. (8/10)
Story: Apparently we didn't understand a major part of the story. (4/10)
Roleplay: Lots of interaction, opportunity for humor. (9/10)
Combat/Challenges: The right challenge level, fairly interesting. (8/10)
Maps: Standard. (7/10)
Boons: Creative but too weak or obscure to be of use. Flavorful equipment. (7/10)
Uniqueness: Boot camps are not unique but it was fun to do with an outsider/planar twist, which added to the humor. (9/10)
GM Preparation: TBD.
Overall: A fun time if you can see the humor in army style boot camp training (8/10).
I had high hopes for this scenario, as the first travel to the elemental planes since the specials. However, my hopes were quickly dashed on the sharp ground of the Plane of Earth.
The organization to whom the main villain belongs is telegraphed early, and is the very one that most readers are probably thinking.
Both the elemental locations and people seemed like an afterthought. The Pathfinders only get to talk to genies for a little bit at the beginning and the end. Sure, we were on the Plane of Earth, but much of the scenario is spent on an unremarkable military base.
All of the "nasty superior officer" schtick came off as unnecessarily annoying to my players. They quickly realized that the main villain was either willfully ignorant or blatantly incompetent.
Future scenarios will really need to step it up, especially those hyped as being part of the main season metaplot.
I've played many scenarios, and this is one of the few times I've done a review, and the first time I've felt compelled to do a negative review.
Having just played this with a good group of players, it was one of my worst experiences ever with PFS. The module is written with the early part of it designed to be frustrating and annoying to the characters as they are harassed and berated. It requires a very deft GM to run this well and still avoid making the players feel harassed and berated. In addition, the final encounter is poorly explained with regard to surprise and with a confusing map. Finally, our GM repeated complained of poor editing in the module adding to the difficulty of running it.
IMHO this is everything a first tier adventure should be. Not too difficult to the pcs, very good role playing opportunities and outlines why the society is on the plane of earth to begin with.
The only thing that I disagreed with was that it doesn't feel like the plane of earth.
Other than that, I loved it and so did my players. Well done Jenny!!
This came so very very close to being a 5-star review. If I could give it 4.5 stars, I would.
I've now played this high tier, and GM'd it low tier.
The Good:
*This scenario reminds me a little of Bid For Alabstrine and Library of the Lion (which I very much enjoyed).
*It requires a different mindset from both players and characters, and depends on unusual skills as well as non-combat encounters.
*The extended time period involved (PCs may will be at this for at least a week, and potentially much longer) gives unusual opportunity for roleplay and the development of inter-party bonds.
*This was one of the first times that one of my PCs really felt like a real Pathfinder, rather than a graverobbing murderhobo.
*While GM-ing- I got to yell a lot. I like yelling.
When I played this, I was warned to bring a PC who could use skills and do things other than combat, and I took that into account. I offered the same warning when I GM'd it.
The Bad:
*I fully support requiring unusual skills; but in this case, most of the skill checks required 1 of 2 skills. The problem? Both of those skills are 'Trained Only' (Knowledge: Planes and Profession: Soldier). In the 1-2 subtier, the likelihood that many (or any!) PCs will have dropped precious precious skill ranks into either is rather low. When I played, we got lucky. I had Prof: Soldier, and several of us had Know: Planes. When I GM'ed it, no one had Soldier, and only 2 PCs had Know: Planes, leaving the others floundering. It would have been better if, instead of 2 trained skills at identical DCs, the PCs had the options of making a trained skill check at a comparatively low DC, or an untrained check at a higher DC.
*The mission briefing was very clear as to what was expected of the PCs: join the army, prove that you can be good soldiers, and prove what strong allies the Pathfinder Society can be. The problem is that doing what they're told means that they may not draw the kind of suspicious, paranoid conclusions when presented with challenges that the scenario expects. When I played it, the party decided to investigate the Captain, and gathered a bunch of evidence against her. When I GM'd it, the PCs simply accepted the Captain's abuse. (2 of players were current or former enlisted military, which may have colored their perception of the events- far from being angry that the Captain was out to get them, they chalked it up to "Yep, that's how Basic Training works". Because of that, they never made any effort to gather any kind of evidence against the Captain!
I'm fine with misdirection and layers of intrigue, and I think that PCs should fail from time to time. But in this case, it seems like they were set up to fail- not by Captain Othis, but by the expectations of the development staff. In short, the Master of Spells told them to 'go be good soldiers', but the writer apparently expected them to actually 'go be suspicious pathfinders' instead. If the PCs actually do what they are told, and accept Othis's abuse in the name of proving their worth, they are rendered fundamentally incapable of gathering the success points needed to earn any reward at all.
The Meh:
Although we're told that this is about the Plane of Earth, there really isn't anything especially 'extraplanar' about it. If not for all the Oreads, Shaitans, and elemental critters around, this scenario could have been set in the Darklands just as easily as the Plane of Earth. Not a big deal, but a giant cavern in the bowels of Golarion is pretty much identical to a giant cavern on the Elemental Plane of Earth. In fact, after playing it, I wondered if maybe the scenario wasn't written with the Darklands in mind, then adapted to fit the elemental themes of Season 8. That isn't a mark against the scenario itself- it's a lot of fun! It just doesn't present the elemental theme the adventure blurb implies.
I look forward to further scenarios by Jenny Jarzabski!
Unfortunately, the date did shift as a result of initial growing pains as we adjust our production to account for all of the digital subscription service's needs. This should be a one-time event, and future months' adventures should return to the expected last Wednesday of the month release. I note this in today's blog, which released a few hours after you made your post.
Unfortunately, the date did shift as a result of initial growing pains as we adjust our production to account for all of the digital subscription service's needs. This should be a one-time event, and future months' adventures should return to the expected last Wednesday of the month release. I note this in today's blog, which released a few hours after you made your post.
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer
