Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-01: The Absalom Initiation

3.00/5 (based on 20 ratings)

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–4 (Subtiers 1–2 and 3–4).

A new era is beginning for the Pathfinder Society, with new recruits and new factions all excited to build connections and embark on grand adventures. The PCs are among these recruits invited to attend a welcoming party where they can meet both the old guard as well as the up-and-coming leaders. But the party's not all talk; the PCs learn of four exciting escapades in Absalom, through which they can kick off their adventuring careers!

This adventure's individual missions include numerous variations that make each play-through exciting and different.

Written by Lyz Liddell.

Scenario Tags: Repeatable

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Society Scenario Subscription.

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

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

PZOPFS0101E


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Average product rating:

3.00/5 (based on 20 ratings)

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fun but flawed

2/5

As an early scenario for the new edition, this runs into many of the same troubles they had in the first scenarios of PF1. Namely that they haven't quite figured out how to balance things appropriately yet. DCs are all over the board from easy to impossibly high for 1st level characters. Fights also range from easy enemies to monsters that one shot players on a normal hit and instakill them on crits. Having only enemies that were immune to mind affecting led to one player calling it his "worst roleplaying experience ever."

The scenario is way too long, running at 5 hours with the GM skipping and rushing through sections to reduce the play time. Especially as a so called intro scenario, where extra time should be allotted for new players learning the rules.

However, if you can get past these flaws, the scenario itself is great. I had a good time playing it.


A home Run

5/5

I have both played and GMed this. I think that it gives a lot of great introduction content to both the Society itself and to our fair home city of Absalom. A clear PFS2 spiritual successor to First Steps.

The other reviews cover things well, so I will keep it brief.

Start your PFS2 career here!


A win for Players and GMs!

5/5

The hall was a great roleplaying experience, surprisingly moreso for the players who have never played Pathfinder Society before! The ability to fail lore checks and go into the party thinking Morilla is an agent of Cheliax is absolutely wonderful. And I'm glad to see so many of my favorites there, giving us a chance to catch up on what's happening and introduce players to the four-to-six major factions!

The ship encounter was a great opportunity to teach new players that the Pathfinders aren't always murderhobos, while tying the story to a past arc. I was able to sculpt the adventure around giving one of our youngest and newest players an opportunity to shine, and I really appreciated that versatility.

The haunted house was quite unnerving for several of our experienced players, especially with the new rules for confusion! I've heard terrible things about the hand-trap and it can do quite a bit of damage, but the activation is very generous (a specific player has to enter the room twice in a 24-hour period) and it only goes off once, so the party should be able to recover the player and drag them off to safety. Plus it's nice that you can detect haunts without spamming "detect undead".

The mob provided more excellent roleplaying opportunities while highlighting the versatility of the monster creation rules in PF2, but was the least memorable part of the scenario for our group.

The encounter in the Blackros Museum was the highlight and what I'll focus on most here. It has received mixed reviews. The encounter has an out-of-control ritual slogging everyone participating for a significant chunk of damage each turn. The only way to turn off the ritual is to succeed at a very high skill check or kill up to three durable enemies while the ritual damages everyone in the room attempting to fix it. People have complained that the high DC and being zapped by the ritual each round discourages people from trying the skill checks, but I think this is a prime example of past system mastery getting in the way of seeing how well the encounter highlights the action economy.

First you have the reaction, allowing martial characters to protect their skillful compatriots by jumping in front of the negative energy. The ease by which a product can give a balanced action to players like this helps show off the strengths of the system’s modularity only possible thanks to the action economy.

Second, you have three actions per turn, and thus up to three attempts at that high DC skill check. Yes, the ritual will damage you, but when you only have to resolve 1-3 checks to stop it, being able to throw 12-18 skill checks looking for a 16-18 isn’t that unreasonable.

Third, you have three actions! That means you can attack the shadows with your first two attacks, then attempt a skill check or quaff a potion or throw a heal with the second. Heck, if the pulse of negative energy is that scary you can even use your three actions to run into the room, attempt a skill check, then run out of the room before the end of the round!

I know it will take players time to adjust to the new system, and typical norms of the First Edition need to be forgotten and relearned through the lens of our new paradigm. It’s painful watching the most experienced players get hit the hardest and be the most likely to recommend staying with the system they are more familiar with. The proficiency system, dying rules and action economy give more leeway for scenario authors to provide players with more diverse sets of more difficult challenges. In every second edition game I’ve run so far, the players honestly felt like they could very well be facing a total party wipe! And yet, in every game I’ve run so far the players have achieved their primary and secondary success conditions without a single death! A game that can provide that gripping sense of fear and yet give even the newest players the tools to overcome the game’s challenges is one balanced to favor fun.

And that’s a win for both sides of the screen.


Mini-quest scenario.

4/5

Good scenario. Page ate my review.

Shout out to the Blakros section. It was a great use of the new action and skill system.


Nice to New Players and Fun for Veterans

5/5

The Great Hall portion is a bit of a slog for anyone wanting to jump straight into the action. However, for those who enjoy character conversation, it is fun. It allows players to learn about the factions while creating a goal within each character interaction. It’s about as fun as the “get a quest” portion of any adventure can be. The replayable quests are great too, allowing for different theming and encounters for players to enjoy even if they’ve already played the same quests before.


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Rysky wrote:
Uh, all but 1 of the maps have copies for sale here on Paizo.

Yes, I saw that when looking around, but that's still 1 short from a full set needed. Also buying from the US for me, here in Sweden, absolutely sucks due to fees and shipping etc (it's possible, but is a hassle and costs a fortune).

Silver Crusade

Not really much to do there, it probably is cheaper to PDF + print.


Rysky wrote:
Not really much to do there, it probably is cheaper to PDF + print.

I just hope they will reprint it soon so it becomes in stock through the usual outlets again. Doesn't make sense to base current adventures and campaigns around OOP products.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Wolftame wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Not really much to do there, it probably is cheaper to PDF + print.
I just hope they will reprint it soon so it becomes in stock through the usual outlets again. Doesn't make sense to base current adventures and campaigns around OOP products.

The products are always available in PDF and we use custom maps in our products all the time. In fact, APs only use custom maps and they're our most popular keystone product.

We generally try to lean towards using in-print maps to make it more convenient for GMs who just want to buy and drop down a flip-mat, but if we have an out-of-print map that folks can still grab the PDF for, it makes more sense to use that than paying for a custom map we don't really need to be paying for and that's actually less convenient for our GMs.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Just get a flat TV and display the PDF map on it :P

That's what I do.


Unikatze wrote:

Just get a flat TV and display the PDF map on it :P

That's what I do.

About how much did that cost you?

Shadow Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Maybe $100.

Horizon Hunters

Is there a database for Pawns?

Be nice if Scenarios/Quests had a Pawn guide. Would save a lot of time looking through stuff.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Can someone post the link here, that the ritual disable is 1-action (normally a complex hazard it takes 2 TWO.) I remember it was ruled as 1 specifically.

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