The Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path begins with the adventurers standing on the deck of a ship ready to make landfall at their new home. However, dread settles in as they notice that the colony is empty and abandoned. Tasked with uncovering the whereabouts of the prior group of colonists, the adventurers go ashore and explore the deserted settlement. Uncovering strange evidence leads the adventurers across the island, where they encounter two survivors who can give them clues as to the fate of the rest of the first wave of settlers. Can the adventurers survive long enough to discover what truly befell the fledgling colony?
"The Lost Outpost," a Pathfinder adventure for 1st-level characters, by Jim Groves.
A detailed look at some of the other colonists who make up the colony of Talmandor's Bounty and the roles they play in the campaign, by Jim Groves.
A deep dive into the bizarre and alien ecology of the alghollthus—the family of creatures that includes the devious aboleths, by Greg A. Vaughan.
A bestiary of new monsters found in the shattered continent, by Jim Groves, Isabelle Lee, and Luis Loza.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-964-6
"The Lost Outpost" 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 (702 kb zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I was a player in this, so just a brief review from that perspective.
There were some drawbacks, certainly, but what's strong is really strong. That remains true for the entirety of this AP.
There is a tough start to this one! A few bad rolls would've seen us wipe on the very first encounter, but of course that is subjective.
I really liked the sinister and mysterious atmosphere here. We truly had no idea what had gone on, and though some of the encounters were a bit basic, it still did a good job of feeling disconcerting and dangerous.
After the initial discovery of the lost colony, I think the latter second half was the strongest part. I enjoy when Adventure Paths let you get a strong sense of the theme early on, even if they don't let on exactly what's going on. The last area and boss really felt like a completely unique experience to this AP.
One criticism that remains consistent throughout this game is that the social stuff is a little weak, and largely falls back to 'people are dissatisfied and you need to appease them'. I understand, obviously in this kind of situation such things are inevitable, but it doesn't mean it's fun to revisit time and again when you have much more important, life threatening things to attend to.
Still, this remains one of my favorite games that Paizo has ever published. A completely unique experience which rewards an interest in Azlant and Azlanti technology, and truly does justice to the real villain (which I won't spoil here)
When I first saw that Paizo was releasing an adventure path revolving around Azlant, I suddenly felt a little like a kid on Christmas Eve. I downloaded the PDF the morning it came out and read as much as I could before having to leave for work. We are now 3/4 through the book and having a blast! A big thank you to everyone at Paizo for all the work put into this. We are eagerly looking forward to the rest of the adventure.
Pros:
1) A large list of NPCs that have pre-generated backgrounds for use in the campaign at your discretion.
2) Plenty of encounters & role playing opportunities
3) Developers / writers went the extra mile to enhance player immersion while on the island.
4) Not everything is hack-n-slash, writing is supportive for multiple outcomes.
5) The section on Aboleths is one of the largest/best I've seen since an old Dragon magazine from way back.
Cons:
1) The last map needs a bit more dressing.
2) Some of the unused NPCs do not show information for their class/race/alignment/ ect. This may be done purposefully so the GM can flavor however they want but a suggestion on what to use would have been good.
In closing, despite the cons I listed, we are really enjoying the adventure so far. As a GM running the adventure for 5 players, I've found it to be decently paced and a pleasure to run.
I was super excited to get Ruins of Azlant, and there is a lot to like about this first installment. There is a lot of discovery going on in Part 1, instead of it being just a way to get out of level 1. There is an interesting cast of NPCs for the party to get involved with, and I feel like it's a more manageable number than in Skull & Shackles, with some great scripted interactions.
So why only 3.5 stars? First of all, the AP suffers from lack of battle maps. The entire first part of the AP has one non-grid-lined map and nothing to cover the combats. It would have been helpful to at least have suggestions of Flip Mats and Map Packs to use instead. As it is, I'm probably going to be cannibalizing from a lot of them and being like, "I know it's not the same shape as it was on the outside. Just go with it." Since I run online, I may also just super enlarge the big map.
The second issue is that I feel like a certain point in the AP doesn't give appropriate guidance as to why the PCs would go to a particular place. Everything for the first two parts has a logical motivation, but then it becomes a description of places where the PCs need to go without any impetus for that particular place. Yes, I can make something up, but the lack of a quest-give in this place feels like an oversight.
Does anyone know if there will be further discussion in future APs about ioun stones and their use in items for combat, being built into homes as "matrixes", etc?
Ioun stones show up quite a bit throughout the Adventure Path, but there's not an article or anything with a bunch of new rules or lore about them. That's kind of scattered through the various adventures. There are a few new ioun stones and a couple of items that work with ioun stones.
Pathfinder Adventure, LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber
Robert Brookes wrote:
I would just like to chime in, as the author of the next part, the following "unusual" race options will have some really cool things to do. Some starting in part 2, others a little on down the line:
Locathah
Strix
Changeling
Gillmen
Wyrwood
Make of that what you will~
Reading this has locked in my decision to roll a Gillmen bloodrager. Can’t wait for my DM to start this!
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
JSOtter wrote:
Reading this has locked in my decision to roll a Gillmen bloodrager. Can’t wait for my DM to start this!
Remember that the player's guide had the following to say about playing gillmen:
Ruins of Azlant Player's Guide wrote:
If you choose to play a gillman in this Adventure Path, make sure to look up the lore surrounding them; this race has some significant weaknesses that, given the themes of this campaign, might place them at a serious disadvantage compared to other races.
Eh, if you take the alternate racial trait Slimehunter from the ARG you should be fine as long as you submerge in water once per day, and even then you can just take the feat Surface Survivor if you don't want to have to deal with that.
I think they might have been referring more to the save penalty vs Aboleths.
Yes, but slimehunter trades in the +2 to non-aboleth mind affecting effects (and corresponding -2 against aboleth enchantments) for a +2 against against aboleth spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities, so if anything it's even better for a campaign like this.
I'd just like to know which Pathfinder supplements (Companions, Campaign Settings, etc.) would be most useful to acquire before starting this campaign. I can assume that Aquatic Adventures is a no-brainer, but are there any other good tools, for either players, GMs or both?
.... And if you haven't downloaded the free Player's Guide, I suggest picking that up. There's a few suggestions of complimentary supplements in there too.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
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