A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-5.
The Qadiran city of Qaharid is famous for its turquoise mines and fine pottery, yet it is also the center of worship for the monks of the White Feather. Most recently, the cult of Roidira has identified Qaharid as a pilgrimage city, and the once innocuous cultists have begun exhibiting truly strange behaviors. Society contacts recognize these actions as a sign that the Roidirans have uncovered some extraordinary secret in the wilderness nearby, and it fall to the PCs to speak with witnesses and track down the cult's discovery.
All I can say is that this scenario will be one I will remember. At the end, it had everyone around the table talking. I found the in game end result fairly amusing when all is said and done. Thumbs up.
I ran this for my PFS group. I did my best, but ultimately this was a pretty high concept scenario. The entire table was left pretty dejected. Enjoying RP is one thing, but I'd say avoid this unless you have 5 hours to ponder the meaning of life.
Make Sure your Players are ready for the Quiz at the End...
The Cost of Enlightenment has some aspects that really stand out and does a good job developing one of Qadira's religious sects, but has some pacing and flavor issues.
This scenario is not one to run in a noisy environment. It has a lot of background information to be digested if the players are going to find the finale interesting, rather than frustrating.
Also, I would recommend that GMs review as much information as they can about Qadiran culture prior to running it. The scenario features a few "Qadiran" details (such as the primacy of Sarenrae's worship), but many other details are generic and could have been drawn from from any of the nations bordering the Inner Sea (The scenario features western-style street names, a generic medieval-style tavern, and describes more of the domestic arrangements of Sarenrae's high priestess than it does the sect's religious rites). GMs who add their own "Arabian Nights" cultural details can make the scenario's setting stand out much more.
(P.S.: One of the other reviewers recommended making cards of each of the visions and handing those to the players, so they can relate their characters' visions to the others. I would like to strongly second that recommendation.)
In the days leading up to this scenario, I was told or warned that this would be a heavy role-playing scenario. I myself do not mind that kind of scenarios at all, so I happily waited until it was time to play this scenario. Now, I feel obliged to mention that when I played it, I was still recovering from surgery, in pain and thus not mentally completely focused. That might influence my final rating somewhat.
It is indeed true. This is a role-playing scenario foremost. Murderhobo’s will not enjoy this at all. People who like to influence NPC’s with words and actions will have a blast. People who like to debate philosophy and the meaning of life will say this is a must-play scenario. For me it was a little too much information to take in and memorise. I’m not sure if that’s indeed the case, or whether that was because of the aftermath of the surgery I had.
That said, the first part of the scenario was amazing. Partially it’s investigation, part of it is making a good impression. It’s exactly my cup of tea and I loved each part. We had so much fun trying to come up with out-of-the-box solutions, that we ended up absolutely smashing the objective. The second part was more philosophy focused, something that’s not a topic I feel particularly strong about. It was, also, too much for me to remember and to replicate when asked. Mind you, the.. let’s call it ‘entity’ that asked us to do so, was an amazing twist and the visions were amazing.
I loved the idea of the scenario. It’s something different and for some people it’ll be outstanding. Others, who primarily want to fight and kill things, will absolutely dislike this scenario. That will lower the rating as this scenario is simply not enjoyable for everyone. I also worry if the amount of note-taking and information is too much. Given my personal circumstances, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and rate this a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars.
Amazing Start To Season 9! Murderhobos Need Not Apply
I GM-ed this for an... interesting party mix on low tier. The group consisted of a Spiritualist, 2 Paladins (Ranginori and Abadar), an Inquisitor, Gunslinger, a Pregen Witch, and a Pregen Bloodrager. I warned my players in advance that this was a high-RP, high-skill-use scenario, with some combat. I think that helped people decide which PCs to play as well as set expectations.
This was an amazing beginning for Season 9, and I hope the Season continues to be this amazing throughout! That being said, this scenario will not be everyone's cup of tea (as other reviews have made clear.)
The Good:
* The chance for the PCs to engage in a glorified LARP/puppet show was amusing. The PCs got to describe how they perform, and their skills can make this anything from grand theater to painful farce.
In our game, the Paladin of Ranginori ended up playing Sarenrae while everyone else piled into Rovagug. No one had Knowledge: Religion, so the Paladin was trying to vaguely work Sarenrae dogma into her performance while being 'corrected' from inside the puppet- it was hilarious! And yet, they still did well!
* There were several ways the PCs could go about impressing the NPCs, as well as several ways they could gather the needed information. Everyone got a chance to do what they do best and make useful contributions to the group.
* This was a reasonable introduction to the Clout subsystem, and while I'm not sure that it was really necessary, it made sense and didn't detract from the experience.
* Most of the combats could be easily avoided or shortened, which was all to the good since this scenario really wasn't about the combat. To be honest, I suspect that the one totally unavoidable fight (the lizard) was thrown in just to give combat-lovers something to do, but that's ok. (I suspect that some people would find the avoidable nature of the combats a bad thing, but I really appreciated it, as did my players- it let us get on with the RP.)
* I loved how this scenario included actual discussions of religious dogma and deep philosophical principles. It was even better that the chosen subjects (Rodira and the White Feather) weren't ones that have had much if any development by Paizo, so the players weren't penalized for lack of setting knowledge. Everybody was on an even footing when it came to prior knowledge of the topics at hand.
This is a scenario where what you get out of it depends on what you put in, so if a player doesn't understand or enjoy these kinds of discussions, they might lose interest. However, our entire party embraced the opportunity and had a blast with it, debating among themselves and with the NPCs. In fact, after the visions, the Paladin of Ranginori immediately began trying to convert the NPC Roidirans to worshiping the Duke of Thunder instead.
* This is one of the first times that Spiritualists really get a chance to shine, rather than simply having their Phantom fight while the Spiritualist casts. Having a Spiritualist in the party makes the scenario even more enjoyable, whether they take the opportunity offered or not. (I ended up making a Spiritualist to apply this GM credit to, just because this was such an amazing moment in the campaign.)
* The boons on the chronicle sheet were amazing, and I love that PCs can choose one of two item slots for the sash to occupy. I wish there were more items like that.
The Bad:
* Two of the maps were drawn on the #$%^ing diagonal! Bad cartographer! Naughty! I printed these maps out in black & white, then colored them, as they were very large and too expensive to print in color.
* Different developers have worked on Qadira over the years, with the result that changes have been made to fairly basic things, like geography. Players questioned the sudden presence of a jungle in the desert, but it was all in good fun.
* If you really like combat, this isn't the scenario for you. While there are several opportunities for combat, most of them can be easily avoided, and the combats are all fairly tame. I don't consider this a bad thing at all, but players with a murderhobo mindset will probably be disappointed.
* While there's nothing problematic on the surface of this scenario, it is NOT family friendly. Most children will not understand the themes being discussed, and awkward conversations could easily result. As a GM, I would not have been comfortable having a child at the table, unless it had a parent present to step in as needed.
A suggestion for GMs prepping this:
Consider printing the visions out separately, then handing a vision card to each player as their PC drinks. This way, there's a better RP opportunity since the other players get to hear the visions for the first times as each PC explains their vision to the priestess in the conclusion. Simply reading the visions aloud to the players makes them more likely to skip the RP and just say "Yeah, we tell her what we saw".
All the players enjoyed this scenario, and several said that it was one of their favorite scenarios, and the best time they'd had in a long time.
I am posting in most of the discussion threads for Gen Con adventures, noting which published map products appear in each adventure. Note that a final list is not yet ready for this adventure. Once we’ve locked in those maps in the development process, I’ll post an update here.
Fun would not be an adjective I would use for this scenario.
Sooo..... I've begun to prep this scenario for this weekend. So far, I am really impressed by this. So looking forward to running it! If this is what Season 9 is going to be, we are in for a season-long treat!!!
I think I will be providing my players with a slightly spoiler-ish warning. This is not a scenario for murderhobos (thank goodness!). I'll be giving them a 'heads up' warning, advising them to bring PCs with strong skills and RP options, rather than the usual combat wombats. I gave similar warnings for Ungrounded But Unbroken and Bid For Alabastrine, and I think it helped to set expectations, which otherwise might be a problem with these non-standard adventures.
Suggestion for other GMs running this:
Instead of simply reading/paraphrasing the visions at the end, consider printing them out, and sharing each vision only with the PC who views it. That way, during the final debriefing there's more RP as PCs share the visions they saw with the other PCs, as well as the NPCs. That way, players will be less likely to skip the RP by just saying, "yeah, we tell her what we saw". Just a thought.
It's a shame that this scenario doesn't have a higher rating (right now). I look forward to giving it a very positive review after I've actually run it! I suppose that any scenario that steps outside the box like this one does risks polarizing ratings, though.
This is the first time that Katherine Cross's name has come to my attention, but after this, I'll definitely be watching for her work! I love her style!
This scenario felt like being forced to listen to a 1st year philosophy student after a bad breakup. Painful.
Finally got the chance to run this, and it was wonderful!!! All my players enjoyed it, several declared it to be one of their favorite scenarios, and two of them said it was one of the most enjoyable sessions they'd played in a long time!
This scenario felt like being forced to listen to a 1st year philosophy student after a bad breakup. Painful.
Finally got the chance to run this, and it was wonderful!!! All my players enjoyed it, several declared it to be one of their favorite scenarios, and two of them said it was one of the most enjoyable sessions they'd played in a long time!
Bravo, Katherine Cross! 5 star review posted!
to each his/her own i guess, but i ran into another player a few days after the game and he put it in his bottom 5 PFS scenarios. and he has played nearly ever scenario available.
I'm not sure whether or not this would be a good place to ask, but would it be legal now if my character wants to switch his patreon deity to Roidira?
As far as I know, she's not listed as a PFS legal deity in any book in the Additional Resources. Which makes sense, both in game and out of game. We don't have her alignment or domains, so how could you choose her as a patron for a cleric or other divine caster? And in game, the events of this adventure make me think that she "left" Golarion, and is no longer accepting worshipers.
Holy crap this scenario sucks. I hope that what we got was the result of lots of editing or something 'cuz it's all over the place and there are some large leaps of logic from the cryptic phrases the players hear to the conclusions they have to draw at the end.
I'm not sure whether or not this would be a good place to ask, but would it be legal now if my character wants to switch his patreon deity to Roidira?
As far as I know, she's not listed as a PFS legal deity in any book in the Additional Resources. Which makes sense, both in game and out of game. We don't have her alignment or domains, so how could you choose her as a patron for a cleric or other divine caster? And in game, the events of this adventure make me think that she "left" Golarion, and is no longer accepting worshipers.
I think we'd need an AR update or something similar to worship her with mechanical benefits (like Cleric/Paladin spells, etc). But there's nothing to prevent a non-Deity-dependent PC from worshiping her (with no mechanical bennies).
My Rahadoumi Spiritualist has actively converted to her worship after this exposure. Roidira is her kind of Goddess! ;-)
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer
