Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-19: Corpses in Kalsgard

I ran this for a group of four yesterday evening on low tier without the modifications for four people because they were quite high level (witch 6, barbarian 7, paladin 7, alchemist 7, none were gnomes).

The Investigation
Good - I love investigations: Lots of possibilities for roleplay and creativity. In this case my players were even able to speak with the dead, which is not mentioned in the scenario, but is actually a great investigative solution, especially since they never found the first message. I also liked the insights into Gnome life and its difficulties.

Ok - I agree with one of the earlier comments that the investigation checks were too easy and too focused on just two skills. However, this is what we GMs are for; to make roleplay interesting beyond just skill checks and mechanics. I just let them roll their skill checks and describe what they were looking for, so their discoveries would feel less mechanical and more natural.

Bad - The canvassing of the neighbourhood seemed kind of pointless and my players did not do this even once since they were able to find all necessary information at the crime scene. Which is actually sad, because the description of the people they would have been able to meet were great.

Unforeseen - After getting Humush Mum's name my players immediately wanted to abandon the other crimescenes to go to a pharasmin temple to check the records of the deceased... which is actually not a bad idea and a very obvious solution. This could have led them to the home of the mum family and find them missing. This possibility was never mentioned in the scenario, and I dissuaded them from doing this eventually. But it still was a very valid possible route of investigation.

Following up on the investigation
Good - I love that the scenario includes two possible outcomes of the investigation: figuring out the clues or not, and the consequences of either option (which could have been dire indeed, my players quite liked Quil).

Ok - I like fights which are not too straight forward, since these tend to be a little repetitive. So the option of having my players fight a ghost was something I looked a bit forward to, to see how they would deal with the incorporeal challenge. However, I could also see them all die in this fight, since Humush can deal a shitton of damage. I am not sure if this encounter is balanced for the lower subtier at least.

Bad - Maybe this was intended, but the guardians of the hostages were such pushovers, that one of my players decided after the first round of combat (during which the first two undead already re-died) that she would clean her nails and wait for the others to nuke the rest... The alternate route, meaning fighting Humush Mums Ghost, would have been the much bigger challenge and also what my players prepared for.

Ellux Lair
Good - Ellux' build was very solid! With all his buffs he was near unhittable, and if not for our alchemist and his cold bombs they probably wouldn't even be able to scratch him. This was the first fight in the scenario which actually felt challenging to my players, and they had fun. And i doubt that they understood the foreshadowing for future events, which will make it even more exciting later on. However, see the 'Bad' part.

Ok - The Warrens with the Burrowing Undead was another strategically interesting encounter. The hit and run tactics of the Burrowers was nice. Not too challenging with my party setup, but I rolled the saves against the diseases behind the screen and without the players knowledge, so I could surprise them later. Regarding Ellux' motivations... I don't know if this was intended as a wink to current political tendencies, but he felt disgustingly antisemitic in an "in your face"-way. Makes for a very satisfying kill, but I prefer a little more subtlety when pointing at real world politics.

Bad - Ellux' minions were very much useless. With a +3 to hit (or +4 with haste) they were basically only able to hit on a rolled 20... My players figured this out pretty quickly and proceeded to ignore them, going straight for Ellux. Having prepared all the buffs, this left Ellux with very little offensive magic, and with a +5 to hit he was basically dead in the water. Be had one succesfull shot a the barbarian with the Enfeebling ray, and the Black Tentacles (which also killed the remaining skeletons) against all others, and then we were at a mexican standoff: Neither side was able to do anything for a few rounds, and then my players just outwaited his buffs...

TL;DR
The investigation was interesting; it needed a little GM initiative to make it non-mechanical and to not drift in directions not mentioned in the scenario, but the different outcomes make it worthwhile. Most of the combat encounters were pushovers, with the exception of the final boss. He was built very well (the "you will never hit me" variant), but could do with a few more offensive options. I also loved the foreshadowing.

There were two tables of this scenario run at a local games day, and it seemed like it went very differently for each group. Let me describe a couple of the things that I enjoyed about playing it, but also point out a couple of things other folks might not enjoy so much.

The gathering information/role-playing bit:

Good - You end up investigating several deaths, and there’s a danger that this could feel like doing the same thing over and over again, but the author includes enough details to make it not boring. Each of the deceased is a different and interesting person. There is enough redundancy that you could survive not getting all the clues, but it doesn't feel repetitive talking to different people in different places.

Bad - The investigation basically comes down to two skills. I can see how this helps keep things streamlined, and gets the party through the investigation with time for everything else that comes after, but if your party is really good at both those skills, you will roll through the investigation and get all the clues. If your party is lacking in those skills, I’m guessing this could be quite frustrating.

The fighting/tactical bit:

Good - The fights felt interesting, particularly the one in the tunnels. The group I played with got to use some unusual powers and magic items that don’t necessarily get used in every adventure. I felt like our success was a nice pat on the back for being prepared for a little weirdness.

Bad - Apparently the tunnel fight was absolutely brutal at the other table. I’m not sure if any PCs actually died, but they ran away and said, “We’re going home; if we go back in there, we’ll die.” If you are expecting the same old fight where you line the melee types up in front, while the archers and casters rain down pointy and fiery death from long range, you’re going to have to think outside the box. If you are ill prepared, or maybe even just have the wrong mix of characters, then things could go badly here (and maybe even in one of the other fights as well).

(I played this.)

This scenario is odd. The plot doesn't make much sense and the investigation feels stilted. While it's an unfair comparison, I likened it to season 1's City of Strangers, where you're supposed to piece things together through checks and the plot just happens to you. The investigation is weirdly abstracted and is more mechanical than it should be. There's no more creative input on the player's side, so it's just a matter of rolling checks, instead of giving the GM guidelines on how to approach this.

On the plus side, the combats felt pretty good. I liked them.

I wouldn't recommend this scenario. It's not horrible or outright offensive, but I just have a weird aftertaste of confusion.

I wrote a long review, but the website ate it and so I have to redo it. Highlights: good investigations, although the clues are too easy for most PCs at this level; interesting bad guy and motivations; combats have some interesting aspects but are all vulnerable to certain characters (again, due to bad guy motivations); good writing, with lots of NPCs and dialogue for the investigation stage. Excellent introduction to Kalsgard if your players haven't been there before. Author Alex Riggs and Developer Michael Sayre did a great job. A few editing items slip through (what is the exchange rate between "dollars" and gp? ;) and a couple of likely PC plans that aren't foreseen that GMs can prep for using Land of the Linnorm Kings campaign book. Great scenario, will run again.