RSS RSS Facebook Twitter Email
Pathfinder / Pathfinder Society / Past Seasons / Season 9

Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom (PFRPG) PDF

4.40/5 (based on 14 ratings)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom (PFRPG) PDF

Our Price: $4.99

Add to Cart
Facebook Twitter Email

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-11.

Glorious Absalom has stood strong against attackers for nearly 5,000 years, and the land around it remains littered with the siege castles of failed invaders. However, centuries have passed since Absalom last repelled a siege in earnest, and a new warlord has gathered a supernatural army and ghastly allies that will test the city—and perhaps be the first to conquer the so-called City at the Center of the World. When chaos erupts in the streets, the Pathfinder Society and its factions rally to the defense of their home, uncover the identity of the would-be conquerers, and seek a way to break the siege.

Written by Mikko Kallio.

Note: This product will be available for sale August 2, 2018.

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

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

PZOPSS0900E

See Also:

6 to 10 of 14 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

4.40/5 (based on 14 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

So much fun

5/5 —

One of the best scenarios i have played, have played this core and regular at different tiers 1-2 and 5-6 and both times i had a blast both times

Top 2 Interactive Special!

5/5 —

I still haven't decided, yet, if I like this better than Siege of the Diamond City, but they are both amazing.

I ran this table at subtier 7-8 at Gen Con, and just played it at subtier 5-6 at SkålCon. Both tables were fantastic.

Without going into too much detail...

Things I liked:
The options for characters in act two had a very similar feel to 5-99 The Paths We Choose. The characters could take options that best fit their characters, and the encounters were a lot of fun! I think between the two tables I ran or played all but the Silver Crusade mission. ☹

What I especially liked about these was that the encounters were a good balance of decent challenge without all of them being CR+3 or more, like has been the trend in recent years for specials. Some were mere speedbumps, some were more difficult. This is a Good Thing!

The choice in Act 3 wasn't as clear cut (though in playing, we went the path less chosen, especially at Gen Con). Having the choice was a Good Thing as well, especially when the choices were not the HUGE paths that were in Cosmic Captive!

However...

On the Choices:
There probably needed to be a better incentive to go the Sea route. Most tables were afraid of going to sea, as they were wearing armor, and had very poor swim checks. This is totally understandable.

The choice to go the sea route seems even less effective since all of the other sections were opened up by going against the Minotaurs.

The special encounter was very neat for all but the highest tier, as they didn't get to use their new toy. This is unfortunately, but understandable.

On the final encounter, though, it seems that the lowest tiers had a bit too much drudgery involved, with a very limited cast of opponents. They were required to continually grind through the same encounters if they were fast about it.

Really, the same is true about the mid-tiers, without even having the advantage of a story encounter like the low tiers. Also, at least 7-8 should have been given the option of going after the boss (even though it would have been a Very Bad Idea for them to do so).

Thank you, Mikko, for an amazing scenario, and for listening to us at Paizo Con!

An excellent multi-table special!

5/5 —

I GMed this (subtier 3-4) at GenCon for a table of very experienced players. Several players remarked that it might be the best PFS special they've played. I found it relatively easy to prep and run as multi-table specials go, with smooth flip-mat transitions and well-organized stat blocks. As for the story, my veteran players and I loved the callbacks to earlier scenarios and the heavy involvement of the factions in the first half. The second half combats were rushed at GenCon, but the tweaks implemented afterwards will make this better for smaller cons going forward. The boons are flavorful and fun, and the post-GenCon clarification helps with those too. I highly recommend this well-written and well-executed special!

Best special I played

5/5 —

Mikko Kallio did not disappoint with this awesome multi-table special that really captures the essence of the new season with uniting the factions together to cooperate and help one another. The challenges have a surprising amount of variety, which differs from my experiences with other specials. The challenges were creative and fun!

The scenario debuted at Gen Con with an issue related how boon rewards were granted, but the PFS team has since amended what is otherwise an excellent adventure!

An excellent special

5/5 —

This was a great event to participate in. We ran it at our local event the week after it was released at GenCon, with 7 tables. The overseer had one player bring in his trumpet for the "signal horn" and gave character parts out to different people to read in character.

Prep: this was much easier to prep than other scenarios, and required far fewer maps for "maybe" encounters. Even though there were encounters that the players didn't choose, prep wasn't over-taxing.

Encounters: it was great to see nods to previous scenarios in the selection of the enemy forces; long-time players appreciated the various connections to people they've fought before. The encounters were fairly challenging (I ran subtier 7-8), and I my party of five was in dire straits several times, although they managed to persevere, survive, and succeed. We finished three of the encounters in Part Two, but fell behind in Part Three and wound up skipping the Gulgamodh fight (had to skip something, the group really wanted to finish the <redacted> they were already fighting, and at this subtier the Gulgamodh encounter is a bit less interesting as a method of balancing it for the sub-tier).

Reporting Successes: the specials have evolved to a system where the reporting and conditions are pretty streamlined. When a house success is reported, a condition went into effect - fairly simple to enact on the fly, and our coordinator made cards for each one so table GMs could just throw them down and let the players worry about the bonuses.

Rewards: there are some cool rewards, although others have pointed out some disparity in their value, and the method of qualifying for them isn't obvious in-game. As such, some people might miss out on the coolest boons simply by making choices in the game, which is unfortunate. EDIT: Campaign leadership altered this almost immediately, improving it immensely!

Overall, I think this is the best-executed special I've seen. Well done to all involved!

6 to 10 of 14 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
Search Thread

Search this Thread:

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Sounds amazing, would be lovely to learn the maps involved^^
Sovereign Court

Can't wait to GM it as my first PFS GenCon Special, and i'll second the request for maps whenever the staff has a chance. Curious to see if there will be an similarities to the Season 2 Special.

Cool! I might have to adapt this one for mythic!
Paizo Employee Pathfinder Society Lead Developer
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
Sounds amazing, would be lovely to learn the maps involved^^

As a note for this and all of the other Gen Con scenarios, Linda or I will post the map list during or shortly after the development process. You'll like see a lot of those posts around late June and early July.

The Exchange

Any map update on the map list?
The Exchange

Part of me is hoping that this will have some call-backs to some of TD's plans that he was hatching way back during Season 5...
Paizo Employee Pathfinder Society Lead Developer
3 people marked this as a favorite.

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.
Grand Lodge

Please let us know which flip-mats/map packs the special will use. Not a lot of time to order them and have them delivered prior to Gen Con.
Thanks.
Paizo Employee Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Maps Appearing in Pathfinder Society Special #9–00: Assault on Absalom:

  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Arcane Library
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: City Gates
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Desert Ruins
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Red Light District (sees a lot of use)
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Ship

    • Sovereign Court
    John Compton wrote:
    ** spoiler omitted **

    First time I'll already own them all. Subscription really does pay off.

    Thanks John!

    Thanks John!

    What are the requirements for running this as a special?
    Grand Lodge
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    The idea of an intermission is nice, but in implementation, at Gen Con, not so much. Letting 1300+ people all break from their table at the same time created HUGE problems at the rest rooms and prize station. It would be better to just see a sandboxy presentation of a long middle act where tables could break at their own pace whenever it was convenient for them.
    Paizo Employee Developer

    I don't want to criticize the product itself and give it a low-rating because of what could have been a bad GM...

    Spoiler:
    So I got to play in this at a table of six and was kind of disappointed when I found myself having to sit and watch everyone else do stuff during the encounter teased by the cover, as the GM said only five PCs can participate. I don't think the GM prepared the module correctly, but between that, three people at my table playing pregens they couldn't pilot and the last three encounters being "called" before we were even done rolling initiative, this was the worst multi-table experience I've ever had.

    The first half of it was great. The second half blew chunks. And I was playing an almost entirely combat-focused character, so given the first half is skill-based, something is off.
    Grand Lodge Contributor

    TwilightKnight, thanks for the feedback! The intermission is probably something that works better at a smaller convention.

    KitsuneWarlock, in the encounter you weren't able to participate in:

    Spoiler:

    There are 6 roles: boots, fist, gun, head, heart, and voice. The GM must have misunderstood something.

    I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the latter part of the special. There were probably too many encounters in that part, so the problems with pacing are probably on me. But I wasn't at the con, so I don't know for sure why it ended up being so rushed.

    Again, apologies, and thank you for the feedback.
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Lead Developer
    15 people marked this as a favorite.

    Upon reviewing Assault on Absalom with other members of the team, comparing notes from the event at Gen Con, and looking through varied feedback from the community, we’ve made several changes to this special adventure.

    Changes made:

    The number of faction successes the House must accrue to trigger a faction condition in Part 2 has been reduced from 3/5 times the number of tables to 2/5 times the number of tables. In play, we found the rate at which groups completed encounters was making it difficult to hit the target number of faction conditions (in the 3–5 range).

    The duration of Part 2 has been reduced from 110 minutes to 100 minutes. An extraneous reference to Part 2 taking 120 minutes has been corrected. This buys a little more time for Part 3, which felt rushed during the event. This shorter window is offset by the adjusted number of successes required above.

    The duration of Part 3 has been increased from 135–145 minutes to 145–160 minutes. Likewise, the Overseer GM’s “Pacing Part 3” note on page 30 has been adjusted slightly to reflect these numbers. This buys a little more time to hit those fun encounters.

    The Table GM instructions for the Broken Horns condition prompts the GM to conclude ongoing Flotsam Graveyards more quickly. There is no change to that condition’s mechanics. Players should really be moving to the Flight of Atalazorn encounter soon after the condition hits, giving them more time to enjoy the set-piece construct encounter.

    The Chronicle sheet now cites that a player may select either a faction reward that their table completed or that the House completed. This remains true whether the House earned one or two rewards.

    The PDF has being updated and awaits imminent re-release on the website.

    Event Organizers: In the meantime, event organizers should use the spoiler-ed notes above to adjust their respective conventions’ experiences. Tonya Woldridge is alerting coordinators for the conventions of this coming weekend about these changes.

    Players: If you have already received a Chronicle sheet for playing Assault on Absalom and would have selected a different reward based on the new reward mechanism, you can contact your local venture-captain to get an updated sheet. Do note that the only change to the Chronicle sheet is that the text for which benefit you can select; if you do not need your selected reward changed, you do not need to take any action at all.
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Lead Developer

    The faction goals completed at Gen Con 2017:

    The House fulfilled the faction objectives for the Grand Lodge, Liberty's Edge, Scarab Sages, and Silver Crusade.
    Horizon Hunters
    6 people marked this as a favorite.

    John -

    Thanks to you and the team for looking at this and re-considering how the boons are issued. I think this is a fairer way, and one less demanding than redoing some of the faction boons.

    I very much appreciate it.
    Scarab Sages

    John,

    Thanks for the update on this issue. I do have a question though. If you are not planning to offer this special in your area due to the increased possibility of getting 8-99 to go, will VCs still be receiving the scenario?
    Sovereign Court Organized Play Manager
    Preston Hudson wrote:

    John,

    Thanks for the update on this issue. I do have a question though. If you are not planning to offer this special in your area due to the increased possibility of getting 8-99 to go, will VCs still be receiving the scenario?

    No, VCs aren't getting 9-00 as an auto drop this year, as it is restricted release.

    Grand Lodge Contributor
    John Compton wrote:

    Upon reviewing Assault on Absalom with other members of the team, comparing notes from the event at Gen Con, and looking through varied feedback from the community, we’ve made several changes to this special adventure.

    Awesome! Thanks so much, John! (And thanks to everyone who gave feedback!)

    I hope the changes will iron out the timing and boon-related wrinkles! :)
    Grand Lodge

    Thanks for listening to our feedback. I'm very pleased with your updates.
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    John & Tonya, thank you for these changes. As someone who will be GMing Assault on Absalom soon, I really appreciated them.

    Hugs
    Hmm
    Shadow Lodge
    Tonya Woldridge wrote:
    Preston Hudson wrote:

    John,

    Thanks for the update on this issue. I do have a question though. If you are not planning to offer this special in your area due to the increased possibility of getting 8-99 to go, will VCs still be receiving the scenario?

    No, VCs aren't getting 9-00 as an auto drop this year, as it is restricted release.

    Then how are venture officers supposed to replace chronicles if requested per John's spoilers?

    Liberty's Edge
    John Compton wrote:
    The Chronicle sheet now cites that a player may select either a faction reward that their table completed or that the House completed. This remains true whether the House earned one or two rewards.

    While noted on the chronicle sheet, this change is not reflected in the text of the scenario (page 45, under the header "Final Closing").

    Grand Lodge
    Eric Clingenpeel wrote:
    Tonya Woldridge wrote:
    Preston Hudson wrote:

    John,

    Thanks for the update on this issue. I do have a question though. If you are not planning to offer this special in your area due to the increased possibility of getting 8-99 to go, will VCs still be receiving the scenario?

    No, VCs aren't getting 9-00 as an auto drop this year, as it is restricted release.
    Then how are venture officers supposed to replace chronicles if requested per John's spoilers?

    I was discussing this topic while filling in my partner on the forum's goings-on. The net result that I worked out was, it is only those who went to Gencon that are impacted, and of those who played only a percentage would be changing their sheets (those who didn't already unlock the things they wanted), and of those needing a change, a percentage would have VO's who were also there... so the total number of folks who traveled without their VO's present and need a change should be fairly small, small enough that the local VC can request a properly doctored chronicle from Tonya (or her support team) without any significant flood on Tonya's side, honestly. It may take that particular group a bit longer to get a re-tuned chronicle, but it shouldn't be that many cases I don't think.

    Paizo Employee Developer
    Mikko Kallio wrote:

    TwilightKnight, thanks for the feedback! The intermission is probably something that works better at a smaller convention.

    KitsuneWarlock, in the encounter you weren't able to participate in:
    ** spoiler omitted **

    I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the latter part of the special. There were probably too many encounters in that part, so the problems with pacing are probably on me. But I wasn't at the con, so I don't know for sure why it ended up being so rushed.

    Again, apologies, and thank you for the feedback.

    Yeah the GM was at fault. The table also had three players who have never played Pathfinder before and were playing mid-level Pregens with fairly complicated classes. I don't blame the writer and I can even understand why my friend at Gencon called this her "favorite multi-table to date". Hopefully I'll get a different experience with a more experienced GM and more prepared players at a later convention!

    Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

    "Available Aug 29" – does that mean 2018?
    Grand Lodge

    Yes, multi-table specials are typically opened up to general purchase a year after debut.
    Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

    Thanks!
    Grand Lodge
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    No problem! I have had the good fortune to play this over the weekend at SkalCon and found it to be one of the best specials yet!
    Grand Lodge

    Aside from waiting until Aug 2nd of 2018, how would someone get this one to run? Cons only? 5-star GM's? VA's? VC's? A few larger cons coming up, just curious the probability of this one becoming available to play before next year.
    Grand Lodge

    Only approved events may receive access. I had to schedule over 15 tables last weekend to be able to run this on Sunday. (And remember to include the overseer in the request. Despite being a VC, I had to borrow a copy from one of my GMs to reference since I have not been granted the PDF.)
    Grand Lodge

    So hopefully I'll see it at the larger con this fall. Thanks for the info!

    Brilde
    Silver Crusade
    Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

    John, can you tell us what the table requirements are to run this thing yet?
    Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
    Terminalmancer wrote:
    John, can you tell us what the table requirements are to run this thing yet?

    I agree; it would be nice if the product description gave the minimum number of tables that are allowed for the multi-table interactive specials.

    Grand Lodge

    Five table minimum.

    Any chance of this getting available now?
    Dark Archive

    This scenario is listed "available for sale August 2, 2018." It is now September 12 (I concede to the website issues some delays) and I have a local group organizing this special on September 29 (planned based on/well before the August 2 release date). Any chance this will be made available for purchase soon?
    Lantern Lodge Customer Service & Community Manager
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    We've adjusted a missed setting on the product and its now available for sale. We apologize for the delay! If something like this happens in the future, let us know at customer.service at paizo.com or post in the CS forum and we can take a look to resolve it. We don't always see new posts in product threads.

    Does this include the card game portion? If not, could that be made available too?

    It might also be good if the description mentioned there was a card game portion for anyone looking to run the special.

    I'll post in CS forum as well.
    Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom (PFRPG) PDF All Messageboards

    Want to post a reply? Sign in.
    Recent threads in Product Discussion